Artist: Gorath (Belgium) Album: Apokalypsis (Unveiling an Age That is Not to Come)(2011) Genre: Progressive Black Metal Looking at the title of their latest effort, Gorath are not mincing their words. Black Metal in the purest form from the heart of the EU, once thought to be the realm of the anti-Christ.

As I am familiar with the world of Christian Metal, I found this album especially interesting since it delivers and alternative look on the apocalypse, something other secular bands tend to either avoid or pervert. With songs such as Le Porteur de Lumière and Beasts From the Earth and the Sea they seem to take on a fairly accurate view on the Book of Revelations. They only change perspective on those stories and believe that God is the initiator of all bad things and they find the Millennial Kingdom to be a thousand years of darkness. Being a relativist I don’t blame them for their originality.

The music is simply excellent. The guitars are nothing special in particular, but the drums, oh. Great stuff, full of energy and they never get boring. Something with which I see a lot of Black Metal artists struggle.

A thing which really surprised me with this album is the great diversity the band portrays in each song. Each song sounds different from another and a great diversity of singing techniques is used. Apokalypsis sports chanting, growling and spoken word, in English, French and even Latin!

Starting with the track Before the Throne of the Demiurge, the album paints the setting in which it all takes place: a dark place indeed, but rank with well-written, well-executed musical content.

Eventually, all this greatness comes together at an atmospheric peak in the song The Beasts From the Earth and Sea, a 14 minutes long epic right in the middle of the album.

This album has virtually nothing to rant at. Everything is good, the production, the music, the concept. The only thing at which this album might trip is accessibility. This album is made for elitist Black Metallers. Although not necessarily a bad point, the songs are somewhat lengthy, with an average of 7 minutes per song, but that is surely the only “bad” thing I can find about this album.

After all this praise, there’s only a quick conclusion to be made: this is a masterpiece. I would like to add that this album is sophisticated. It’s not half an hour of grinding blast beats in your face, but a lengthier epic. With a wide variety of different sounds, this album employs a great range of especially vocal styles, and the music sometimes comes close to being really heavy Rock instead of the typical Black Metal style of playing. Therefore this might be the point at which the previously mentioned Black Metal elitist might drop out. Let me tell you, this album is not a typical, classic Black Metal masterpiece which every Black Metal-fan will like.

So, listening to this album is like walking through a hazardous mountain range. It has its up and its downhills, it has its beautiful sights on hilltops, but also the half-rotten corpses of forgotten travelers. You might enjoy the walk, but you might also be horrified.

My Grade: 9/10
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Tags: Belgian, black, progressive, review

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