This is not going to be for every one, while not commercial fluff like Behemoth or Dimmu, who I still derive entertainment from , it is not going to be ravishingly grim enough for those of you who only listen to lo fi 90's black metal on vinyl and if that's the case I'm not sure why you would be reading this in the first place unless you have a crush on Ghaal and wish it was you he had tied up and tortured for hours on end. Man crushes aside Ghaal has to have one of my favorite harsh vocal tones in black metal. Perhaps he just know how to communicate with the producer to get the perfect balance of effects to his snarl , what ever it is it works and he continues to give a stellar performance here.
Here Godseed sounds like a side project which came into its own as a band. This is an off shoot of Gorgoroth and I'm sure you have heard all the really cvlt legal battles and drake which went down so I'm skipping all that and focusing on how this experimental black metal band has tweaked themselves out into the purgatory not too far into void as Blut Aus Nord where they straddle the fence of what is considered black metal. It has plenty of the ugly Ambiant chords one associates with black metal though not as straight forward as Gorgoroth, but if you set it against a song like " Carving a giant " , unless we are talking about some of the bands more reaching moments like the song "alrande tre" where they have meshed Rammstein With the chorus to the song "kindergarten " off Faith No More's "angel dust" album.
If you listen to Gorgoroth albums with your arms crossed against you chest complaining how they aren't grim enough for you, then you won't like this ,so stop reading and go get over yourself. One of the non cvlt similarities this has is it is very well produced and while I can appreciate some raw black metal at the end of the day if it sounds like shit how good can it really be. This album needed this mix as there are so many subtle elements going on.
The opener "Awake" starts off your standard blasty mcnasty not falling far from the Gorgoroth tree. This one took a little while to grow on me as the stiffness of the blasts are a little static. There's a creepy bridge I like that breaks things up into a majestic gallop and the chanty clean vocals are a subtle touch. When the organ arrives it feels a little Borknagar and could have been implemented in the verses to loosen up a bit.
"This is from the past" has a powerful chug to it so when the blasts return they feel better than the did at the albums offset.the verses still retain a somewhat militant feel to them. The slower tempo of the b section works even if the riff takes on a repetitive drone.
"Alt liv" this one slaps you with big chords from the start and backs off into one of the albums Rammstein moments. This is where we have left the black metal at home and this one walks very close to Behemoth's side of the street. The therein song writing begins to appear to be take the riff of your b section and just drone on it with a gradual build.
"From the running of blood" this one kinda strikes me as Borknagar for a second, but also retained a lot of the elements I liked amount Ghaal era Gorgoroth. They bang this riff into the grou d before they explodes into some hyper blast maddness.
"Hinstu dagar" gets mean and back to the blasts. Ghaals vocals seem exceptionally scathing, this song is very straight forward until it gets to the syncopated b section. This approach is balanced out by the slower "Lit" where the guitar rings out into a drone and the vocals are performed more like a ritualistic chant. This songs floats of into borderline proggy drone.
"the Wound" the pace picks up and launches into a triumphant gallop. The drone here churns a little differently than the rest of the album with subtle layers of sonics until it blasts it's way out. "Blood line" is Combichrist industrial murk which never materializes into anything aside frame heavy breathing and a synth wash.when a beat comes in at the final minute and half . So I won't factor this ditty in when I adore the album.
While much better than what you might think a side project album would sound like some of these song structures could have stood to have been allowed to venture out , Becuase if you are going to experimental dont half ass it. The performances and production are not half assed and I think the more open minded fans of Gorgoroth should be pleased so I'm going to give this one a 7.5, as I don't seem myself really listening to this out side of shuffle mode once the new car smells wears off of the album.
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