In this series of posts I'll discuss an album I picked up as a teenager or in my early 20s and haven't listened to in a very long time.
I like black metal. I really do. It's not a subgenre of metal I gravitate to on a regular basis, but when I'm in the mood for it I honestly find it to be one of the best. It can be so cold and unforgiving in a way that takes me to another place. It has a sense of escapism that I find a lot of other metal subgenres lack... but like I was saying, sometimes I don't want to be in that cold, unforgiving place! Anyway, I've always liked Norway's Gorgoroth, yet for some reason Under the Sign of Hell is still the only album of theirs I actually own, and I think for that reason I kind of forget about them. I'm not giving them the justice they deserve, because as of typing this post, I genuinely think they may have been the first black metal band I ever witnessed live. The first ever Bloodstock Open Air I attended was in 2010, and they played the mainstage on the Friday afternoon. I was still pretty new to black metal aged 18, and I was probably only listening to Mayhem, Dimmu Borgir and some of the first-wave bands from the '80s like Venom, Bathory, Celtic Frost etc. (which is a totally different brand of black metal to the second wave of the '90s anyway). But I still remember their performance quite clearly to this day. Pest was on vocals and in true Norwegian black metal fashion, the band were adorned in corpse paint, spikes and black clothing. They were great, but the fact they played mid-afternoon on the mainstage outdoors didn't really suit their style in terms of atmosphere! They'd have been better off on the Sophie Lancaster tent stage later that day, but whatever. I'm pretty sure I bought Under the Sign of Hell not too long after Bloodstock 2010, making it one of the first second-wave black metal albums I ever picked up.
This is a pretty short album at just under 33 minutes, but it doesn't really need to go on any longer than that. Simply put, Gorgoroth are harsh! I mean, most '90s black metal 'outta Scandinavia is harsh, but this record is sharper than a rusty razor blade. It has this particularly piercing tone as well as the ever-important bleak atmosphere that is essential to black metal. It's quite difficult to describe... the album isn't as spooky as Mayhem's De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas, nor is it quite as lo-fi and sloppy as Darkthrone's Transylvanian Hunger. The musicianship is actually rather good; it may come off as sloppy and chaotic if you aren't really focusing hard on the songs, but if you are paying close attention there's actually quite a lot going on here, in a good way. Some of the tracks like 'Revelation of Doom', 'Krig' and 'The Rite of Infernal Invocation' (before that unsettling windy ambience takes over anyway) are all total assaults of the senses to keep the listener on edge. They're about as violent as black metal gets. Well, in my experience anyway. But the band do slow the tempo and bring doom elements to the music on other songs like the bleak 'The Devil is Calling' and the surprisingly catchy, memorable (!!) riffing within 'Profetens åpenbaring'. Meanwhile, 'Ødeleggelse og undergang' kind of takes advantage of both styles with it's doomy transition that comes in the middle of the track.
As is pretty common in black metal, the riffs are mostly tremolo-picked which is pretty much essential to get that second-wave black metal sound, and apart from 'The Rite of Infernal Invocation', there aren't any solos to speak of. It also sports Pest on vocals. I get that Gaahl is probably the most iconic Gorgoroth vocalist (despite not appearing until 1998), but Pest is totally suitable for Under the Sign of Hell. For most of the album he performs with a high-pitched rasp. He doesn't sound especially unique in that sense, but he's ideal for the songs. The fact he almost sounds off-key at times actually works in the songs' favour. Also, you occasionally get spoken word vocals here and there to enhance the unsettling atmosphere. On 'Blood Stains the Circle' he genuinely sounds like he's trapped in an asylum and screaming for help. Great stuff!
The production is one of my favourite aspects of this album. It's expectedly raw as fuck, yet it feels very well thought-out and constructed all the same. The instruments are audible and I can make out the riffs perfectly. And the drum sound... maybe some of the best-sounding drums I've ever heard on a black metal record?! The tone of the blast beats is just so primal and relentless, and they sound so good!! I don't really talk about drumming in detail all that often. I'm not a drummer, and I find it difficult to sound like I know what I'm talking about (because I don't) when it comes to drums. It's something I really feel like I should work on, but I really want to emphasise how much I love Grim's drumming on this record. It's one of my favourite aspects for sure.
Well, here's another example of a fantastic album I've owned for going on 16 years that has been gathering dust for at least 10 or more of them. I liked it a lot when I first picked it up, sure, but compared to now I was only really a very casual fan of black metal throughout my late teens and even most of my 20s. That's probably a big reason why I haven't given Under the Sign of Hell a lot of attention over the years. Really, I think this is a killer slab of true Norwegian black metal. I don't think Gorgoroth are doing anything especially original or unique here, yet they still have an identity of their own on this album. I won't say it's one of my absolute favourite records of the genre, but it's pretty damn great that's for sure. I have the 2007 CD remaster from Regain Records. In 2011 the band would re-record the album in it's entirety... according to the internet it sucks, so I probably won't make a point of checking out that version anytime soon!
Adam's rating: 8.7/10
