Band:	Gorgoroth
Album:	Ad Majorem Sathanas Gloriam
Style:	Black metal
Release date:	June 19, 2006
Guest review by:	Slayer666

01. Wound Upon Wound
02. Carving A Giant
03. God Seed (Twilight Of The Idols)
04. Sign Of An Open Eye
05. White Seed
06. Exit
07. Untamed Forces
08. Prosperity And Beauty

Ah, there we have it, another release of one of my favourite bands ever. The reason why Gorgoroth holds such a high position in my musical taste lies much more because of what they have done before the year 2000, as "Incipit Satan" which was a sort of a turning point for them. That album, and the one that came after were, in truth, not bad, but certainly not what I wanted in Gorgoroth. Yes, it was still brutal, it was still pretty damn hardcore but it sort of lost that atmosphere, that whole evil, morbid feeling that was ever so prominent on earlier stuff. AD Majorem Sathanas Gloriam is, unfortunately, still on that path.

Bottom line, this album is really darn brutal and doesn't mess around one bit. But, that's pretty much it. What do I mean? Well, this is your classic modern Black Metal that just blasts you away with super-highly violent, and in the same time stylish, riffs without too much depth behind it. Noisy as all hell, it goes for the effect that Death Metal was meant to have, rather than Black Metal. Now we get to the point. In my opinion, what Black Metal should do to you is make you feel like you're in the middle of some satanic rite, to make you feel like all the evil of this world is right next to you. And it is Death Metal that should make your adrenaline jump sky-high. I don't know what intentions Gorgoroth had with this album, but the effect they got is far closer to Death Metal. There are a few exceptions in some tracks, like God Seed, Sign of An Open Eye and... hmm, well that's about it. They still don't bring back the entire atmosphere of early Gorgoroth, but at least they manage to capture some of it.

And then, another reason why I always sigh when I listen to this album is the way the guitars are tuned. That famous sloppy production which makes the guitars sound filthier and more evil is pretty non-existent. Indeed, the production is good. Very good. Far too good for a Black Metal release, in fact. But, then that's just me, some people may like this much more technical approach. Gaahl at least did something right, because the vocals are decent. Nothing spectacular, or earth-shattering but it at least it adds some evilness in the whole thing. In fact, it has some great moments, like at the Prosperity And Beauty track, which happens to be one of my favorite parts of this release.

How do I rate it? Let's see..... As a BM release, this is crap. An unforgivably small amount of blast-beat drumming, far too good production values, not as much tremolo picking as there should be, lack of some deep atmosphere..... As an Extreme Metal release, it's awesome. You have it all, brutality, speed, harshness, good musicianship..... If this was Gorgoroth's first release, I would have judged it as the second kind. But, Gorgoroth has truly much history and reputation as a BM band, therefore that must also be taken into consideration. Perhaps now that Gaahl and King have been kicked out, Infernus can once again make something that will restore my faith in Gorgoroth.