Artist: Gorgoroth
Title: “Under The Sign Of Hell” (remaster)
Label: Regain Records
Release Date: 10/23/2007
Genre: Black Metal
Rating: 3.5/5
Our downward spiral into the depths of Hell with Norway’s Gorgoroth continues on the bands third full-length release and while it’s only a thirty minute trek, the listener clearly gets the blasphemous point at a number of turns without any question. The album comes care of Regain Records and has been remastered at The Cutting Room like the others in this recent offering and as result has a little more sonic clarity than the original release offered you. The music follows the bloody path forged by the group’s previous releases of “Anti Christ” and “Pentagram” and once again finds guitarist Infernus at the helm of perhaps their most mature effort to that date in their career. The original release came to be in 1997 and with it the duties in regards to drums and vocals were different from the previous recording. “Under The Sign Of Hell” finds Pest as the vocalist replacing Hat, but as history would note this would be his only recorded appearance with the band. The casual listener will find the this change indistinguishable as each of these musicians rant and scream in similar fashion as if possessed by the very subject matter that they are singing about. The drums would present us with Grim and he does a great job on the necessary thunder that makes Black Metal music so ferocious in its percussion side. Sadly, the drummer would commit suicide by overdosing on drugs not long after this recording. The material here is cold as the Northern winds and brings you to bleak surroundings that offer you little solace or peace of mind and of the nine songs we get I felt that tracks like “The Rite Of Eternal Invocation” and “Funeral Procession” were among the best examples of this. “Blood Stains The Circle” was also a favorite and there is a touch of Viking Metal in “Brofetens Upenbaring” and through it all you are reminded again and again that Infernus and whomever he has working under the Gorgoroth banner means serious business.
The downsides are the same as with the other remasters and that is in the rather sparse inclusions. There are no additional bonus tracks and the album art is the subject on an included poster. There are no lyrics and only one photograph. It would have been nice to find a little bit more in the way of historical liner notes as well but alas there is none. Either way, this is a must have for any fans of the Black Metal scene as Gorgoroth surely embedded their own upside down cross on the genre. In today’s world of 2007, Gorgoroth no longer features Infernus and the guitar player is in a bitter battle with singer Gaahl and bassist King over the rights to use the bands name and progress into the future.
Track Listing:
1. Revelation Of Doom
2. Krig
3. Funeral Procession
4. Brofetens Upenbaring
5. Postludium
6. Odeleggelse Og Undergang
7. Blood Stains The Circle
8. The Rite Of Infernal Invocation
9. The Devil Is Calling
Official Website: www.gorgoroth.info