I finally managed to pick myself up a Gorgoroth album recently, after being only able to listen to a promo version of their last release, Ad Majorem Sathanas Gloriam. I went for Under the Sign of Hell, their 1997 tour de force featuring the first full vocal performance of then vocalist Pest. ...Hell is a icy cold blast of grim, Norwegian black metal, drenched in that unmistakable northern atmosphere that so many black metal albums from such luminaries possess. It's an intense album, with a tracklist that includes some of the more cherished Gorgoroth tracks. Their name, incidentally, comes from a dead plateau of evil from Mordor in Lord of the Rings, and you can just imagine this blast flowing over a desolate and melancholic place. The mix is powerful and earthy but only adds to the rough ferocity of tracks like Profetens Åpenbaring and Revelation of Doom. Pest's vocal performance is strong and raw, his vocals tearing out over the thunder of Infernus' riffs, although it would not match current vocalist Gaahl for pure vehemence and malevolence on later albums. A fantastic black metal blast, which would stand tall over its successors Destroyer and Twilight of the Idols and probably only be better by the devastating explosion of hate-fuelled metal found on Ad Majorem..., if you love your black metal, you should already own this. If you wanna get into it, there are certainly worse places to start. A milestone for one band still keeping the controversy in black metal. Blast on.
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