77/100, Gorgorth rebuilds itself with decent results, but they should have taken some more time to create something truly great.
After several listens I have to say it's disappointing especially considering all the hype about Infernus retaking control and the band returning to their older styl*e* While Infernus did indeed write all the music, he only wrote the lyrics for the short little outro, "Introibo ad Alatare Satanas". While Infernus' guitar playing is full of ups and downs, Pest really stepped up to the plate on vocals and proved that he could indeed fill Gaahl's shoes. I still personally prefer Gaahl's unqiue vocal styl*e* but Pest is certainly equally as skilled. The drumming on the album is pretty basic and boring, even moreso when put up against the drumming on the other two big black metal releases in the same month, Immortal's All Shall Fall and Marduk's Wormdwood. The album essentially comes across as some good but incomplete ideas thrown together with some really basic and generic parts used as the glue.
"Aneuthanasia"-Comes in pretty brutal with one of those infamous black metal barks but soon leads into some incredibly monotonous riffing. The first time through I thought it was kinda cool but repeated listens proved frustrating and boring. Luckily it doesn't last too long and is followed up by a really awesome riff that really doesn't last long enough. The song has some good ideas but doesn't really reach its potential. 6.5/10
"Prayer"-Starts off with an extraordinarily short riff that I can't help but feel they should have used way more, it would have been perfect for a bridge section. It gets followed by some generic and simple black metal riffs which then gets followed by a really *c*lassic one that get's interrupted by a lesser albeit good one as they switch off. This pretty much continues until the abrupt ending. 7/10
"Rebirth"-I swear this song is about putting Gorgoroth back together after the whole fiasco with Gaahl and King, but I guess we'll never know for sure since they don't print their lyrics. Anyway this song is a step above the previous two. It sounds a lot like something Burzum would write. It's very dark and moody, a little ambient even, but it's also surprisingly progressive as it goes on. Once pest screams, "Rebirth of Gorgoroth!" things begin to get a bit more epic. 9/10
"Building a Man"-I hate the stupid intro but the song gets pretty solid afterwards. To me the main riffs on this track sound a lot like Immortal, but I guess that's for you to decide. It loses some credit for being extremely derivative but it's a very good song. 8/10
"New Breed"-Starts off a little too overly simple but progressively gets heavier and more technical with some really cool riffing a couple minutes in. Unfortunately the great riffs do get underused and the simpler and more boring ones seem to take priority a little. 7.5/10
"Cleansing Fire"-The first riff is interesting and has potential, but it feels unfulfilled and the extremely lackluster drumming really takes away from it. It turns out to be a relatively heavy and decent song, but not much else. 7/10
"Human Sacrifice"-Easily one of the best tracks on the album, and one of the only ones with competent drumming. Starts off really intense but soon leads into some semi-memorable riffing. If this song had kept that intensity all the way through it would have been awesome. As it stands though, it's still a great track to listen to. 8/10
"Satan-Prometheus"-This has some really cool guitar parts and is the only other track besides "Human Sacrifice" with decent drumming. Besides Pest's more than solid vocals there's some clean background on this track that work surprisingly well. Definitely a great song and a very good way to end the album 8.5/10
"Introibo ad Alatare Satanas"-The point of this little outro eludes me. Not going to score it or include it in the average.
My top tracks fort this album are "Rebirth", "Human Sacrifice", and "Satan-Prometheus". It really feels like Infernus was desperate to put out an album both to prove that he could still write music despite his lack of any serious contribution over the past six years and to compete with his new rival God Seed's release who ironically fell apart before even releasing their first album. It grows on you with more listens, but Infernus should have waited and polished up the album a fair amount more before releasing it. He should have hired a different drummer, written some more interesting riffs, and made a couple more tracks to lengthen this all too short album. It's solid black metal, and if you're a fan you'll definitely find something to like, but it really just doesn't compete with what everyone else has been putting out, or even any of their own back catalog (With the exception of the somewhat lacking Destroyer) for that matter.