Review by Felix on October 11, 2019.

Frankly speaking, I believe that Gorgoroth are overestimated. Too many weak outputs are connected with the band's name. But I freely admit that they also released pretty strong works. Pentagram is the best one. If someone likes to discover the original spirit of Norwegian black metal, he (or she?) is well advised to dive deeply into the here presented material.

Gorgoroth present an overdose of hatred, scorn and negativity. The album holds simply or even primitively constructed songs, but their seemingly uninspired structure does not indicate a lack of substance. Okay, in view of the inappropriately short playtime, a lack of substance would have been inexcusable. Yet, as mentioned before, fortunately this is not the case. Although there is only a minimum of riffs per song, these riffs have been very well selected and they cause an enormous effect, regardless of the fact that they are minimalist as well. The insane vocals - with a lot of reverb on it - reinforce and optimize the effect of the guitar work, because they are very focused, too. One realizes that the group has reached the core of the black sub-genre and the spirit of the album expresses the boundless misanthropy of the artists. No doubt, here we have a holistic approach which has the aim to create a pitch-black listening experience. The reduction on the essentials, which is inter alia mirrored by the unpretentious artwork, is either voluntarily chosen or the guys had no other ideas; anyway, the album works.

There are some really fast songs, but velocity is not the main focus of the band. Gorgoroth concentrate on spirituality and attitude. The album embodies the mentality of the second wave of black metal. Maybe one can even say that it was one of the outputs which defined the sound of this wave. Technical gimmicks or aesthetic nuances do not play a role, the guys rather behave like a horde of lumberjacks who have the ambitious aim to beat off the entire forest until dusk. Consequently, they march straight ahead - and the result is remarkable. "(Under) the Pagan Megalith" has machine gun riffs that pave the way for the deranged screaming, "Bergravelsesnatt" kicks off the album with an excellent flow while offering a combination of speed, pressure and vileness, "Katharinas bortgang" mixes pain, insanity and intensity with the result that whirring guitars and pitiless drums create another example of primordial black metal. Well, I could mention almost every song in this context, because they all blend harmoniously with the overall picture.

The production finds a good balance between a credible underground work and the demands of a scene whose expectations in terms of hi-fi technology are rather too high than too low. But technical specifications are not the main issue of Pentagram. Back in 1994, Gorgoroth presented a hot-blooded yet icy clump of hatred and they were among these mainly Norwegian guys who opened the door to a new dimension of extreme metal. No doubt, Pentagram deserves our respect due to its musical content and the date of its release, no matter what happened afterwards.

Rating: 8 out of 10

Review by TheOneNeverSeen on July 18, 2023.

I was very lucky to learn about this new melodeath band (after a few seconds of 'Mira' I knew I was a fan), which, despite not moving away from the classic Gothenburg sound much, manages to offer entertaining melodies with an uneven atmosphere on their debut EP. I will go as far as to say The Umbra is the best melodeath release I have heard in a while, mostly due to successfully embedding all the key traits of the genre and not making the melodies too uniform or predictable.

After a pretty atmospheric, even partly melancholic at first intro 'Wraith' (from which one can already tell the guitar and the bass are going to be clean, yet not overly so, possessing just enough intensity) the album strikes you with the aforementioned catchy intro of 'Mira'. The track, despite being short, features a few tempo changes (even a short breakdown), solid, diverse drumming, fast, energetic riffs and slower-paced melodic guitar passages. Basically, a perfect song to get acquainted with the band. Other songs are written in a different fashion, but all possess unexpected elements such as the intense drumming with the other instruments fading by the end of 'Rise' or the slow atmospheric "While We Sleep"-like (but more aggressive) passage in the middle of 'Fear', reflecting the band's creativity. All songs aside from 'Doom' which I didn't like as much due to way too many elements joined not in the best way possible have immensely catchy At the Gates/Amon Amarth-y riffs that any fan of the genre is likely to enjoy. Thus, consistency-wise, the EP is nearly flawless. The feelings of the songs vary from the pre-apocalyptic tension of 'Rise' to the epic intensity of 'Fear' and anguish and uncertainty of 'Doom'.

Chance's highs seem to mostly have been inspired by Trevor Strnad and Heljarmadr of Dark Funeral (especially on 'Vessel'), while the inspiration source for his lows is hard to identify (they remind me a little bit of Alexi Laiho's lows). His phantom-like (haha) singing fits the band's sound perfectly, adding to its grim spirit. I can say the same of the EP's sinister lyrics that I enjoyed a lot the imagery of, especially those of 'Fear' and 'Vessel'.

To wrap up, The Umbra is an excellent melodic death metal EP, in which various moods and songwriting elements are blended, creating a very solid and promising work. Everything from the cover to the song titles feels mysterious and exciting, just like the majority of the tracks.

Rating: 9 out of 10