Strange world, that of black metal.
In it, albums that are well-produced and well-played are almost always something insignificant or tasteless, while the best works, those most considered and loved by fans, are the sparse recordings, often very raw and confused. 'Pentagram', the debut album of the Norwegians Gorgoroth, belongs to this latter category. Released in 1994, simultaneously with most of the milestones in black metal, the debut of the Norse band is an album with clear intentions: rotten and violent metal, but that at times manages to be epic and majestic.
Opening the pagan rituals (opening "the dances" doesn’t convey the idea well: P) we have Begravelsesnatt, a composition that immediately highlights the band's "singular" characteristics. We still find part of the Bathory sound and the very rough and "homemade" recording akin to Darkthrone, elements that were already partially disappearing in most black groups (Emperor above all). Needless to say, for a band like Gorgoroth, this is not a flaw at all. Crushing The Scepter and Ritual continue to amaze, demonstrating how these Norwegians (at least on Pentagram) are anything but monotonous, further sharpening the sound, this time inspired by Mayhem, and dragging the listener into an inferno of desolation and coldness.
Drømmer Om Død is a mid-tempo that seems to have come out of 'Det Som Engang Var', where vocalist Hat proves to be one of the greatest Norwegian black singers, with his very high-pitched and exasperated voice. Katharinas Bortgang and Huldrelokk are extremely violent compositions, in which the "mosquito-like" distortion of the guitars egoistically overwhelms the other instruments, creating a sublime infernal fresco, where Hat is the painter who, with his tormented singing, depicts the worst demonic visions. A special mention goes to (Under) The Pagan Megalith, in my opinion, the most representative track of early Gorgoroth, a lesson in Old School Raw Black Metal that many pseudo bm bands of today would do well to learn better. Nice the interlude with the riff borrowed directly from the '80s thrash school. Måneskyggens Slave is the final stop, the most extreme song on the album and perhaps the most expressive, the most poetic (a term to be taken with a grain of salt when talking about Gorgoroth), the most "Norwegian black metal" of all, of those compositions to leave to future blacksters.
In conclusion, it can very well be stated that 'Pentagram', in addition to being a cornerstone of '90s black, is also the best album by Gorgoroth, the most genuine and spontaneous, the most charismatic, and qualitatively the one of the highest level, especially compared to the recent works released by Nuclear Blast.
Let us support the faith, the god money already has too many followers.
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