GORGOROTH — Twilight of the Idols: In Conspiracy With Satan (review)

GORGOROTH — Twilight of the Idols: In Conspiracy With Satan album cover

Album · 2003 · Black Metal

4/5 · 2012-03-14
Warthur

Somehow, I get the impression that Gorgoroth were profoundly disappointed that the burning church depicted on the cover of Twilight of the Idols didn't inspire a new wave of church burnings - I guess the Norwegian scene by and large had learned better than that after the Varg Vikernes debacle. (Plus, the original wave of church burnings tended to involve musicians actually getting off their asses and taking part in them, rather than just making provocative press interviews and hoping their nuttier fans would get the hint.)

I say this because in its music and in its presentation, Twilight of the Idols is absolutely obsessed with keeping alive the memory and aesthetic of the black metal scene as it was in 1993, just as the band seemed intent on doing so in their interactions with the media. Look at their outrageous gig in Krakow where they managed to get in trouble with the authorities, and you'll note that they were essentially borrowing Mayhem's stage getup; look at more or less any black metal documentary from this sort of period which features input from Gaahl, and more or less all of them create the impression that there have been no significant developments or evolution in black metal since the murder of Euronymous.

Those who have listened to more experimental black metal bands know that this is not true of course... but you don't come to Gorgoroth because you want a departure from the norm, you listen to them because they're an act based on keeping the old school flame alive. In retrospect, this is probably why Incipit Satan failed - Infernus was trying to get the band to be experimental but temperamentally the lineup just weren't suited to it.

On Twilight of the Idols they do a more than reasonable job. The lyrical and compositional contributions of Infernus, which had dominated pretty much every Gorgoroth release to date, are radically trimmed back, with Infernus only contributing lyrics to Forces of Satan Storms and only composing the music to the extremely short album coda. Aside from a couple of musical contributions from drummer of the day Kvitrafn, the album is dominated by the creative team of Gaahl and King ov Hell.

Although this duo would eventually spell trouble for the Gorgoroth brand with their shameful attempt to kick Infernus out of his own band some years later, here the teamup proves to be precisely what the band needed. With Infernus evidently suffering from writer's block, and the compositional approach which had sustained the band from the debut through to Destroyer apparently running out of steam, the time was right for the band's sound to be refreshed. Gaahl and King ov Hell succeed in doing precisely that whilst still remaining rooted in the early Norwegian black metal aesthetic.

If anything, their musical vision seems a bit more muscular and purist than that of Infernus, who would often incorporate a few rockier or punkier touches into the early Gorgoroth albums, and whilst this makes the band's sound a little bit less original and individual (aside from some interesting vocal touches here and there by Gaahl), on the whole it's a very capably performed piece of "True Norwegian black metal" which might not break much new ground, but stomps around the old ground very satisfyingly.