Gothmog - A Step In The Dark - review
Gothmog - A Step In The Dark - review
Tracklist
01. Eternal Hate02. The Awakening Of Lord Strigoi
03. Raging Spiritual Ecstasy
04. Nostalgia Of Heaven
05. Spirit Of Nature
06. Wandering Viking
07. Death Of A Warrior
08. Ghosts Of Ancient Days
09. Art Of War
10. Downwards The Hades Of The Soul
A review by
Jeff February 21, 2009
Gothmog is one of the characters of the Lord Of The Rings trilogy and like Dimmu Borgir our guys use to play some kind of epic and melodic Black Metal. The music featured on the album is direct, catchy on a side and even technical with some cool guitars soli. We even have some really good epic choruses on some tracks. All in all "A Step In The Dark" is definitely not a bad album but I don't know why, something is missing. I'm talking about a good dark ambiance which must be on each Black Metal albums. The songs are just nice, there is nothing scary here and it's a shame. I just think that Gothmog just didn't find the way to do a real separation between Heavy Metal and Black Metal. The band will have to do something to fix this point in the future?
Two of the members of the combo play in Cain's Destiny (a young Spanish band of melodic Power Metal) and they give a real technicality to Gothmog music. Sure the purists will say that real Black Metal doesn't need any guitar soli but at least the other ones (like the COB fans) who want extreme music with real technical guitar parts will be happy. The singer has a good Black Metal voice and the drummer is more than convincing so with its good recording, "A Step In The Dark" doesn't suffer of any real problem. As you know I only regret the lack of dark atmosphere in this release. This is a bit too nice for me, to "heavy" in the genre?
Of course if you're into classic Black Metal and just can't stand bands which play something "melodic", I'm sorry to tell you (but you probably don't care anyway) that "A Step In The Dark" will not be for you. Being aware of this fact, other people know at least that this release is more than honest in the category of the "cool" Black Metal releases. The technical level of the musicians is really good, the songs are catchy, and really this is a good album which simply misses of a good oppressing and dark general ambiance. If the band can become a bit naughtier in the future, it will simply work. Wait and see but Gothmog is a promising combo at least!
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 8 |
| Songwriting: | 7 |
| Originality: | 7 |
| Production: | 8 |
Written by Jeff | February 21, 2009
Comments
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Hey Jeff, that's one interesting review and all, I really think I might check these guys out, but it's just...there's a slight difference in the band's name spelling, which might make it a little difficult to actually dig 'em up, you know  In the title, it's written Ghotmog, later on it's Gothmog, and in the very end, it's Gothemog...  So, which one's correct... 
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| Posts: 352 |
Posts: 352
Indeed they are Jeff, but they are one more thing for sure - amazing!!!I checked the guys out, and they simply kick ass, just the way I like my black metal, hehe... Some aspects of their music remind me of the rawness of Sammath Naur - another great band I found about thanks to one of your reviews, Jeff...Keep up the good work... 
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