Looks like Regain Records is taking a trip to the bank with some nice re-releases of Gorgoroth's early albums. Lately this band has come to a virtual standstill, mired in legal troubles and personal disputes, and who knows if they can continue? But here we have a very cool reissue of their debut album with a remaster job and a small poster of the cover art included. (Though since the cover is just a blank black card with the band logo on it, it's not that exciting a poster.)
Originally recorded during the second wave back in 1993, this is primal, remorseless Black Metal with chunky riffs and pounding drums. I'm not sure how much different this sounds from the original recording, but this version sounds pretty damned good. The guitar tone is fat and evil, and the riffs are killer. The songwriting is much more inventive and varied than just blast-blast-blast, and there's a definite early Celtic Frost/Bathory vibe here. The only thing I have to dock this for is being too darned short, as it is cool enough that the less-than-thirty-minute running time is a definite drawback. Otherwise this is an early Black Metal classic that's been reissued about a thousand times, but is still absolutely worth grabbing if you don't have it already. Skull-smashingly essential.
