Review by Joshua on February 23, 2004.

Gorgoroth's latest album captured my interest from the very start. It alternated equally between fast and mid-tempo black metal, heavily emphasizing treble distortion and blast beats, with bass that was either non-existent or inaudible. That's nothing new, but their arrangements and presentation were both so enjoyable that I kept this album on repeat for half a transatlantic flight.

Unlike many black metal impersonators, Gorgoroth create a grim, foreboding atmosphere without either drowning in keyboards or playing indiscriminately fast. Their production is deliberately poor: treble distortion and midrange static predominate. The raw, unpolished atmosphere sounds as if the band intentionally rejects a refined sound in favor of something more primitive. Gorgoroth incorporate it perfectly, using the static to add atmosphere, while never allowing their production to completely obfuscate any more technical riffs.

The songs on this album are generally short, especially for this genre, ranging from three to six minutes, but each incorporates numerous time changes, and occasional atmospheric interludes. Because of this, each song seems longer, but retains enough cohesiveness not to lose the listener. Most importantly, every song is unique, a quality that separates them from countless interchangeable black metal bands: Not only are the songs not formulaic, but they're clearly distinguishable.

One can hear some similarities to Dissection, Aeternus, or Immortal. Of course, that means there are some generic elements, but those rarely detract from the album as a whole. The emphasis on Satanic imagery can become a little silly, though: Chanting "praise Satan" over and over, to the accompaniment of long, dissonant blast beats, is something middle school children do to scare their English teacher.

Do not listen to the last track on this CD. I don't know what they were thinking, but Gorgoroth chose to end the album with one of the most irritating keyboard pieces that I've heard in many years. Fischer-Price keyboards sound neither ominous nor very grim. In fact, it sounds like Depeche Mode hijacked the studio and recorded the world's most pointless epilogue.

Bottom Line: Aggressive to mid-tempo, Satanic black metal, very competently played, with deliberately raw production. Parts of this album have been done before, but Gorgoroth do a good enough job to deserve a listen. Skip the keyboard outro, and the disc is great.

Categorical Rating Breakdown:

Musicianship: 8
Atmosphere: 8
Production: 7
Originality: 6
Overall: 7.5

Rating 7.3 out of 10

Review by Brian on December 7, 2015.

Secrets of the Moon is a black metal band from Germany, that's all I knew. Their latest album Sun is their sixth full length since 2001. Since this is my first experience with the band I have no frame of reference as to the progress they've made as a band or where this release would stack up against their others. What I have experienced, with a some degree of joy I might add, is Sun.

Going in fresh and with no idea what I was about to listen to, opener "No More Colours" instantly grabbed my attention. It's a psychedelic number with some amazing guitar work. What first caught my attention was the very interesting and explosive vocals of sG. This would continue throughout each of the seven tracks on the album. He has several different styles at work here, my favorite being his David Bowie-esque delivery. A perfect exaple of this would be on "Man Behind the Sun", which actually sounds like it could be the title of a Bowie song. it begins with heavy guitars, again with a psychedelic vibe, that build before dropping into a clean channel, at this moment sG comes in sounding like the bastard child of Tom G. Warrior and Ziggy Stardust. You are drawn in with it's melodious yet somber chorus. It's not all about the vocals, the music holds it's own and provides these amazing backdrops for sG to operate.

The music is black metal at it's roots, but this is not black metal in the traditional sense. This pushes the genre to it's limits. The music is just as weird and interesting as the vocals. Sometimes it's down right catchy. Take "Hole" for example. There's doom elements, that are too punk to be doom. Sound weird? It is. However it's not weird just for the sake of being weird , like I said it's catchy too. The song builds upon itself. As the guitars build with lavish full chord strums, utilizing every note, the vocals soar, inviting you to sing along if you know the words. Each of the seven songs on Sun are dense, giving you layers to peal away at with each listen.

Secrets of the Moon have created a lavish, intellegent, progressive and dark gem of an album. With it's December release Sun has me making scribble marks on my year end list for it's inclusion. Black metal bands continue to push the boundries of metal to it's furthest reaches and Secrets of the Moon is not afraid to push it even further.

Rating: 8 out of 10