Gorgoroth
“Quantos Possunt ad Satanitatem Trahunt”
2009
Gorgoroth is one of Norway’s premier black metal bands. Formed in 1992, the band has had a tumultuous history with both band members and the law but that has not stopped them from releasing some of the finest black metal albums over the last twenty years. Throughout the years Gorgoroth’s founding member Infernus has remained the constant and the driving force behind the band’s music. Others have come and gone, but Infernus has been the rock creating some of the greatest black metal riffs and melodies that the genre has ever experienced. After the 2006 full-length album Ad Majorem Sathanas Gloriam, Infernus was forced to take a leave of absence from his band. Other band members’ felt they should go on without him, thus a legal battle broke out over who rightfully owned the name Gorgoroth. When the smoke cleared it was Infernus that was still holding the reins to the band he had founded. The other members left and Infernus wasted no time in rebuilding his band with some familiar faces and some brand new faces. In 2009 the new Gorgoroth released the band’s eighth full-length album titled Quantos Possunt Ad Satanitatem Trahunt (abbv QPAST). This is a different kind of Gorgoroth album that succeeds in every way. I would call this melodic black metal. Pest is back on vocals and gives a nasty, raspy performance over Infernus’s inventive purely black metal guitar riffs. If there is a theme on QPAST it is about the rebirth of Gorgoroth; as Pest exclaims in the song aptly titled Rebirth. Musically, this is a primal album full of imaginative playing and imaginative songwriting. Infernus is a master of his craft, and he adds a deep layer to his playing through arpeggio cords and relentlessly evolving and blasting trebly riffs that stay fresh throughout. Each song on this album has a slightly different feel, everything from dark and dismal to upbeat, and the whole thing flows together flawlessly. There is a reason Gorgoroth is one of Norway’s finest black metal bands. Gorgoroth could have put out anything and their loyal fan base would have eaten it up, but Infernus put genuine thought and feeling into QPAST. This record could have been just straight blast beats and blazing fast guitar riffs and nobody would have thought twice that Gorgoroth were back and just as powerful with the new members, but instead Infernus took a somewhat different direction proving that Gorgoroth belongs in the clutches of it’s founder and that he has more than a few clever ideas up his spiked sleeve.
Tracklist:
1. Aneuthanasia
2. Prayer
3. Rebirth
4. Building a Man
5. New Breed
6. Cleansing Fire
7. Human Sacrifice
8. Satan-Prometheus
9. Introibo ad Alatare Satanas
https://www.facebook.com/gorgorothofficial
Members:
Infernus – Guitars
Boddel – Bass
Tomas Asklund – Drums
Pest – Vocals
Tormentor – Guitars
Rating: 9 out of 10
~Kris