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Gorgoroth > Destroyer, or About How to Philosophize with the Hammer > Reviews > northernlegion
Gorgoroth - Destroyer, or About How to Philosophize with the Hammer

Open the gates for the Destroyer - 95%

northernlegion, April 17th, 2006

I was worried at first when I heard Gorgoroth signed to nuclear blast records, I prayed to the gods of metal that they wouldn't sell out like Dimmu Borgir.
My prayers didn't go un-heard! Once again Infernus delivered the goods.

Firstly this album has a much colder raw sound than its three predecessors had and overall its hard to spot the similarities between Destroyer and the early works cos of the almost entirely new line-up.

The guitar work of Infernus really shines here. This becomes apparent when the mental intro on the title track ends and the riff kicks in, it gets louder and more insane as a mash of frenzied drumming and machine like noises are mixed up to culminate in one of the most insane black metal songs ever.
From here the pace doesn't really let up as Gorgoroth refuse to compromise their style by putting short slower passages into the middle of songs like so many other bands.

Obviously the drumming is good ( after-all this is black metal ) but alongside the guitar the vocals are amazing too. Gaahl's voice is your typical evil screeching but on this record they fit perfectly in time with the drums and guitars etc. This is cos of Infernus' brilliant song writing.

There is a big mix of styles on this album that are all very well put together. These include some more traditional metal style riffs like on "The Virgin Born" which is the only mid-paced track present. And a menacing presence of electronic samples like on the opener which thankfully never dominate the music and an awesome old school sound which make a very original sound throughout which has never been matched in the eight years since this album was vomitted forth into existence. Many bands have these elements in their music but only Gorgoroth have managed to blend them so well to make such a frenzied black metal assault.