Gorgoroth - Destroyer
Review: In the space after the initial thrust of Norwegian black metal occurred, that the aging process would be apparent was not in doubt but the question of continuation after apocalyptic entry and rise was a nagging concern. Gorgoroth surmount this with a concept piece which seems designed to sound like its namesake, a gigantic machine of death in familiar form, a word violently out of place used in a peaceful context to make an idea seem palatable. Melodic riffs alternate between a quickly-changing form and an extended form in which the basis points of melody are suspended in the long tremelo that sustains notes over distances in which the vocals and drums integrate complex.
The ideas as expressed in these riffs are not dissimilar to the first two Gorgoroth albums and are located consistently around basic structural tone centers and avoid the extenuated development in their connection to one another that made earlier Gorgoroth albums listening expeditions. With the technique of enough distortion enwrapping each riff, a chromatic cloud of melodic resonance is created in which the riff is visualized by the listener as the sound between the root tones and the ambient background, as reflective of itself in a the depolarization of tones and subtones. Objective achieved: this release excels as the expanding repertoire of an early success in an obscure art form in the dying days of its formative impulse.