Gorgoroth - Incipit Satan (Review)

Gorgoroth - Incipit Satan
Gorgoroth - Incipit Satan
Unless memory serves me incorrectly, Gorgoroth had quite the "unconventional" upbringing in the early Norwegian black metal scene. And by "unconventional", I mean "they aren't part of it".

Alongside fellow mallcore posers Watain and Dimmu Borgir, Gorgoroth is "black metal" in name only. And they certainly weren't part of the original "Inner Circle" based around Euronymous' shop Helvete, as none of the original founders of black metal - Varg Vikernes, Fenriz, Dead, Nocturno Culto, Samoth, Faust, Euronymous, Hellhammer - have ever mentioned Gorgoroth, its frontman Infernus, or any of its members.

Basically, they are fake black metal.

And while the original creators of the black metal genre, Darkthrone, Burzum and Mayhem, each expanded their artistic and compositional reaches with each successive release, Infernus and his merry horde of Southern-fried devildom began a sort of musical de-evolutionary process that spanned a number of albums, as black metal's epic atmospheres and grandiose sense of neo-classical "beauty within darkness" were progressively bastardise back into the very same radio rock that Varg, Fenriz and Euronymous rebelled against starting in 1991.

The end result of this bastardisation of black metal is Incipit Satan, an album that absolutely fails to justify its existence in any way, shape or form.



Is there a more useless band than Gorgoroth? I mean, even Deicide and Satyricon each released at least one decent album before turning into a joke.

Gorgoroth started as a clown act with the incredibly mediocre Pentagram, and only got progressively worse as the years went on.

Simply put, calling this album a mess gives it positive justification. I sincerely doubt Incipit Satan took more than 6 or 7 hours to "compose" and record, knowing that fans of "trve kvlt" black metal will eat up anything if they see the name "Satan" on the cover.

Not every album has to be, or even can be, Withdrawal or Fallen Angel, but there are limits as to how derivative and boring you can get and still claim to play "true old school black metal" as Gorgoroth repeatedly points out in their press releases.

Incipit Satan paved the way for Watain, Dark Funeral, Belphegor, Archgoat, Kult ov Azazel, Xasthur, Leviathan, Deafheaven and the rest of the useless "post-black metal" bands.

Good job, guys.

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