Destroyer

I wasn't ready for Destroyer when it came out almost 20 years ago. I was just getting into death & Black Metal and in those teenage years, I hadn't developed the sadomasochistic enjoyment of uncomfortable things that comes with age or trauma, indeed something as abrasive as the opening 30 seconds of the first song is a litmus test. Once the opening salvo of programmed blast beats, Ghaal's distorted vocals and noisy guitar lets up, a rocking thrash riff peers through the din & the song proper takes off. Once you get beyond the breakers, Gorgoroth reveals themselves to be better than their reputation led me to believe. The programmed drums on the first song are my only complaint about it but it actually works & they play it live on Black Mass Krakow. The next song Open The Gates gets you entranced with 8 minutes of empowering evil, while the 3rd track blasts by fairly quickly. The 4th might be the best on the album though, & along with track 5 are mostly played by Infernus & Tormentor. Oh yeah, up to this point, there is a different vocalist & drummer on each track, with track 5 being the only stylisitically consecutive song. The rest of the album one could take or leave, consisting of a mostly instrumental metal track with U-boat samples, a slow dirge & a crusty Darkthrone cover.Track for track, it's at least as good as Antichrist, not quite the perfect album Under The Sign of Hell is. It'd pretty diverse though & the highs are up there.

like the song the virgin born especially for guitar cover using tabs in standerd tune.This also has the other vocals of pest and tormentor which are every bit as good as ghaals vox and infernus is a top notch guitar player with the most omnious tone in the black metal genre imo.

All Good

Look. Let's be honest. Metal fans are like horror movie fans. Notoriously narrow-minded. Maybe not all are, but many, for sure. So, you've probably heard this album sucks and it's unlistenable. Lies. All of it. I've heard it, so it's one hundred percent listenable. And, it doesn't suck. Sure, it's a little mixed up, muddled up, and disjointed in parts, but hey, who among us isn't. If you love Gorgoroth or black metal in general, this is a fine and interesting addition for your collection.