After the successful re-release of their previous releases (Pentagram and Antichrist), Regain Records complete the trio with Under the Sign of Hell. I was very pleased by both albums and glad to be able to experience Gorgoroth's earlier creations.
With Under the Sign of Hell though, I'm a bit disappointed with the musical content. First, the production is less refined than what could be heard before and the music within the nine compositions is not as spicy and well written. About half of them fall into the furious/fast and somewhat old school type. Then comes tracks 3-5, namely: "Funeral Procession", "Profetens a Penbaring" and "Postludium", where I finally recognized Gorgoroth at their prime. A good selection of mid-paced tunes, nice tremolo pickings, clean chants, distorted arpeggios, samplings, more distortion but in the riffs this time, clean epic vocals, wicked ones and on the last item, simply weird and bestial ones played backward! The following song, "Odeleggelse Og Undergand", has its moments as well, especially enjoyable for a great calmer musical interlude containing those crushing distorted arpeggios. To close things up, "The Devil is Calling" is nothing but a Satanic anthem.
