Gorgoroth
Antichrist

After "Pentagram" (1994), the first internal disagreements within the band and the departure of vocalist Hat, the Norwegians Gorgoroth put together the best lineup (a certain Grim on drums, a certain Storm on bass, an excellent Tormentor on six strings, and a phenomenal Pest to scream out the explicit themes of an album with a rather laconic and indicative title).

It is perhaps Pest who is the creator of the double masterpiece consisting of this sort of EP and the subsequent "Under the Sign of Hell": his voice is probably one of the best of the "true Norwegian black metal" generation, consisting of beastly screaming, dirty, lacerating, acute - some might dare to define it as the perfect fusion between the extreme acidity of Ihsan's vocal cords (Emperor) and the powerful balance of Garm (Ulver, Arcturus); moreover, it's worth mentioning that in this small "Antichrist" Pest does not hit the negative peaks that were noted later in the trivial "Revelation of Doom" of "Under the Sign of Hell," which, in my opinion at least, ruined the average of an otherwise exceptional performance.

Here, Gorgoroth, after a brief (21 seconds) and "grotesque-dark" intro (a distorted lament that could be interpreted at will as demonic or human-under-torture), titled "En Stram Lukt av Kristent Blod" (a close scent of Christian blood), get into the heart of the album with the caustic and minimalist "Bergtrollets Hevn" (The Revenge of the Mountain Troll), in pure true style, without preambles or frills of any kind, drums supporting a fast tempo, riffing as simple and hard as magmatic rock, but not intrusive or noisy on that sulfuric and satanic voice that constitutes its winning weapon.

Along the same lines is the excellent "Gorgoroth," featuring dragging and vaguely depressive bass inserts; the rhythms here are vaguely thrash-death, more pronounced, yet not changing the substance of a cruel black metal of woodland-satanist mold; Pest sketches some foggy clean vocals in Einherjer style, perfectly executed; even the sporadic melodic inserts are more than good, and the track's framework only gains from them, not moving away from the extreme essence that grips from within with the force of a hydra's tentacles.

"Possessed (by Satan)" appears instead slightly different, more static, and at the same time even more extreme, in the intense and almost gurgling screaming of Pest and on the obsessive blows dealt with both hands by Grim - an almost Burzum-like track, with yet another good rhythm change at three minutes, that can only drag the riff and the infernal voice deeper. "Heavens Fell," a fast-paced and well-crafted instrumental based on Grim's precise work and the diligent Tormentor - a filler in which Pest's laughter briefly inserts itself.

It closes with "Sorg" (Sorrow), where a dramatic bell and a surprisingly slow riff with a surprisingly satanic flavor open the scene - the irreplaceable seasoning, however, is still Pest's voice, alternating pestilential (in the true sense of the word) screaming and slow, dark clean-Gregorian litanies with an infernal pseudo-growling, à la Enochian Crescent.

An album that grazes the pinnacle of cruelty and expressiveness, albeit too short and sparse to constitute the inverted crucifix to hang at the entrance of churches to be desecrated.