Gorgoroth

This article is about the black metal band. For the place in Middle-earth, see Gorgoroth (Middle-earth).

Gorgoroth

Gorgoroth is a black metal band from Bergen, Norway. The name is taken from the J. R. R. Tolkien's novel The Lord of the Rings, in which Gorgoroth is a dead plateau of evil and darkness in the land of Mordor.

Much controversy has surrounded the band, especially former frontman Gaahl due to his extreme beliefs and violent convictions. Band members openly insist their music is primarily a catalyst to aid anti-Christian sentiment, criticizing those who listen to their music without sharing an ideology.

Biography

Gorgoroth was formed in 1992 by guitarist Infernus. In 1993, the band released their first demo, entitled A Sorcery Written In Blood. After the demo was released, Gorgoroth signed a record deal with Embassy Productions and started work on their debut full-length Pentagram. Samoth of Emperor participated on the album by recording the bass tracks. After Pentagram was completed and released, Goat left the band and was replaced temporarily by Frost from Satyricon. This led the band directly into the recording of Antichrist, their second release. Vocalist Hat decided to leave Gorgoroth in 1995, but not until after he had finished recording the vocal tracks. It was at this time Gorgoroth's well-known vocalist Pest joined. Antichrist was a highly successful release, and led to the band's first live performances supporting Cradle of Filth. They also toured Norway and England with Satyricon and Dissection. Soon the name Gorgoroth was commonplace in the black metal underground, if somewhat overshadowed by some of the more famous black metal bands such as Mayhem or Emperor.

Following the release of the band's third album, Under the Sign of Hell (1997), and Gorgoroth's first headlining European tour, the well-known German heavy metal record label Nuclear Blast sought to sign Gorgoroth. The band accepted the offer in 1998. The first album recorded and released for Nuclear Blast was Destroyer (1998). New singer Gaahl joined the band at this time, but was heard on only one song, the title track of Destroyer.

In 1999, Gorgoroth began journeying into unknown territory with the recording of Incipit Satan. Though written by Infernus once again, the album delved into musical ideas not expanded upon by the group in previous recordings. Songs such as "Will to Power" showcased strong industrial, dark ambient, and noise influences (more so than on Destroyer and Under the Sign of Hell, both of which showed signs of experimentation). The song "When Love Rages Wild in My Heart" featured clean, bluesy vocals. Overall, the album displayed progressive tendencies, yet still retained a traditional black metal edge and Infernus' signature sound.

Three years later, after further line-up changes, Gorgoroth began writing their new album Twilight of the Idols. The album showed a return to a more solidified black metal style, but was still quite different from early Gorgoroth releases, mainly due to the fact that most of the album's songs were written by bassist King ov Hell rather than Infernus. After the release of Twilight of the Idols, Gorgoroth terminated their contract with Nuclear Blast.

In 2006 Gorgoroth released Ad Majorem Sathanas Gloriam through Regain Records. For the recording, Frost performed on the drums again. This album helped the band to expand its fan base. Gorgoroth was nominated in the "Metal" category at the 35th annual Spellemann Awards for this album (the Norwegian equivalent to the Grammy Awards).

In October 2007 came a major turning point in Gorgoroth's history. Gaahl and Infernus had an undisclosed argument over the future of the band and using a MySpace bulletin, Infernus announced their dissolution. On October 22, Gaahl and King retaliated, claiming on their official website that Infernus had been fired from the band, with Gaahl and King to continue touring and releasing material under the name 'Gorgoroth' as a duo. As the only remaining original member and chief ideologist of Gorgoroth prior to this, Infernus announced he would be filing suit against his former contemporaries for use of the name. Shortly afterwards, Infernus launched a new official website for his party and announced that he was in the process of finding musicians to form a new line-up. In November, King ov Hell applied for copyright under Norweigan law of Gorgoroth's logo, which particularly annoyed Infernus.

On December 13, 2007, Regain Records issued an official statement declaring Infernus as the legitimate owner of the name, and threatened suit against third parties using the name. Infernus then announced his plans to release Gorgoroth's next album, which was tentatively titled Quantos Possund Ad Satanitatem Trahunt, at some point next year.

Despite Regain Records' decision that Infernus owns the name, on December 19, 2007, it was announced that authorities in the Norwegian Patent Office determined legally that Gaahl and King ov Hell "retain the rightful ownership and use of the name and logo, now and in the future." The two have decided to not work with Regain Records in future due to their act of disloyalty in declaring Infernus as the owner of the name before a legal decision was reached. The fact is, they only won ownership through one of three departments of the Norwegion Patent Office. And through the media, they are claiming it is all said and done in an attempt to gain fans support on their side. But, they are actually quite far from over with fighting for the name, and Infernus is prepared for whatever they bring to the table.

Despite this, Infernus' website claims that he has a new line-up for Gorgoroth (consisting of himself on guitar, Frank Watkins on bass and Tomas Asklund on drums) and that he feels that the matter is not resolved. The same website also claims that he made an unspecified offer to Gaahl and King which was turned down and that therefore he will take his appeal of the decision of the 1st office of the Norwegian Patent Office to the second office on the 14th March. If this is successful and the rights to the Gorgoroth name and logo are reestored to him, he plans to take Gaahl and King to court for damages over their use of the name in June. He has also begun practicing with Watkins and Asklund and will commence recording of his new album in August and has also announced that Black Mass in Kraków will finally be available on DVD from Regain Records soon. Meanwhile, Gaahl and King have recently announced that Gorgoroth will be headlining the Inferno Metal Festival, Metal Mania Open Air in Slovenia and MHM Fest in Ukraine in the coming months. .

Suppression of lyrics and tablature

Gorgoroth not only refuses to publish their lyrics, but also actively suppresses any public showings of fan-written reconstructions. The reason for this suppression is not fully known, though possible reasons include the desire to prevent other bands from covering Gorgoroth material as well as the preservation of the genre’s characteristic remoteness and exclusivity. While they never printed their lyrics even before Gaahl joined the band - due to Infernus' beliefs - since he joined in 1998 this stance has been cemented. As a practitioner of old Nordic Shamanism, Gaahl has expressed his belief that words instantly lose their meaning and value once written down. The metal-lyric website Darklyrics.com contains the message “Gorgoroth lyrics removed due to copyright complaint by the band,” in lieu of any actual lyrics. Lyricsondemand.com displays a cease-and-desist message from Arne Beckmann of Prophecies Publishing which reads as follows :

Dear siteowners,

Please note that I am writing on behalf of Prophecies Publishing (PP) and as their business manager. PP is the official music publishing company of the band Gorgoroth.

The band has requested us to take care of a removal of their lyrics from your website.

Herewith we request you to remove any lyrics of the band Gorgoroth from your systems immediately, but not later than 18th Feb 2004. Please be aware that we will undertake any necessary steps (even legal steps) to enforce this.

This is nothing against you and your business or dedication, but you will understand that we as music publisher of the band will have to enforce the copyright as desired by the songwriters. Since you did not license the lyrics you violate international copyright laws and conventions.

With best regards,

Arne Beckmann Prophecies Publishing

Some onlookers have been highly critical of Gorgoroth's lyrical suppression. As the lyrics are sometimes hard to decipher, as with many extreme metal lyrics, especially those not used to black metal style vocals, it has been suggested the band's stance has been paradoxical, citing their emphasis on ideology over music.

Controversy

Concert in Kraków, Poland

On February 1st, 2004, during a recorded for DVD concert in Kraków, Poland, the band displayed sheep heads on stakes, a bloodbath of 80 liters of sheep's blood, satanic symbols, and four naked crucified models on stage. A police investigation took place with allegations of religious offense (which is prosecutable under Polish law) and cruelty to animals. Though these charges were considered, the band was not charged as it was ruled that they were unaware of the fact that what they were doing was illegal, although the concert organizer was fined with a 10000zł (~5000$) fine as he knew about it and neither informed the band that it was against the law nor intervened. The whole controversy led to the band being dropped from the roster of the Nuclear Blast Tour and the footage of the concert being confiscated by the police.

References in media

Some of the most well known photographs of Gorgoroth can be seen on the photography porfolio of New York photographer Peter Beste, who is currently working on a large scale photography book on Norwegian black metal.

In April 2007, a 5-part series entitled True Norwegian Black Metal, produced by Beste, aired on VBS.tv. The documentary largely followed the life of vocalist Gaahl. [1]

On an episode of the Metalocalypse, William Murderface buys his grandfather a wheelchair at a store named Gorgoroth's.

Members

• Gaahl (Kristian Espedal) - Vocals - (1998-present)
• King ov Hell (Tom Cato Visnes) - Bass (1999-2006, 2007-present)

Touring Members

• Teloch - Guitar (2004-present)
• Hellhammer - Drums (2008-present)

Former members

• Infernus (Roger Tiegs) - Guitar, bass, drums - (1992-2007)
• Frost (Kjetil-Vidar Haraldstad) - Drums - (1994-1996, 2006 session)
• Pest - Vocals, additional guitar - (1995-1997)
• Hat - Vocals - (1992-1995)
• Tormentor (Bøllo Heyerdahl) - Guitar - (1997-2002)
• T-Reaper (Torgrim Øyre) - Bass - (1998)
• Ares (Ronny Hovland) - Bass - (1996-1998)
• Storm - Bass - (1996)
• Samoth (Tomas Haugen) - Bass - (1994)
• Kvitrafn (Einar Selvik) - Drums - (2000-2004)
• Sersjant (Erlend Erichsen) - Drums - (1999-2000)
• Vrolok - Drums (1998)
• Grim (Erik Brødreskift) - Drums - (1996-1997)
• Goat Pervertor - Drums - (1992-1994)
• Kjettar - Bass (1993, session)

Former Touring Members:

• Nick Barker (ex-Cradle of Filth, ex-Dimmu Borgir) - Drums (2007-2008)
• Sykelig (of Den Saakaldte) - Guitar (2007)
• Garghuf (Dani Robnik) - Drums (2007)
• Dirge Rep (of Gehenna, Orcustus, ex-Enslaved) - Drums (2004-2007)
• Apollyon (Ole Jørgen Moe, of Aura Noir, Immortal) - Guitar (2003-2004)

Discography

Studio albums

• Pentagram - Malicious Records/Century Black/Season of Mist (1994)
• Antichrist - Malicious Records/Century Black/Season of Mist (1996)
• Under the Sign of Hell - Malicious Records/Century Black/Season of Mist (1997)
• Destroyer - Or About How To Philosophize With the Hammer - Nuclear Blast (1998)
• Incipit Satan - Nuclear Blast (2000)
• Twilight of the Idols - In Conspiracy With Satan - Nuclear Blast (2003)
• Ad Majorem Sathanas Gloriam - Regain Records (2006)

Live albums

• The Last Tormentor - (1996)
• Live in Grieghallen 2007 - (To be released 2008)
• Live in Bergen 1996 - Re-release of the Last Tormentor on CD format. (2007)

DVD

• Black Mass Krakow 2004 - (To be realeased June 2008)

Compilation albums

• Darkthrone, Holy Darkthrone
• Feuersturm - (1997)
• Feuersturm Volume II - The Ultimate Storm - (1998)
• Death is Just The Beginning Vol. V - (1999)
• Death is Just The Beginning Vol. VI - (2000)
• Destroyer / Incipit Satan - (2000)
• Originators of the Northern Darkness - A Tribute to Mayhem - (2001) Contributing the song "Life Eternal"
• Unter Den Flugeln Von Satan - (2005)

Split albums

• Burzum & Gorgoroth - (1993)

Demos and promos

• A Sorcery Written In Blood - (1993)
• Promo '94 - (1994)

Music videos

• Carving a Giant - (2007)

External links

• Official Gorgoroth Website
• Infernus' website
• Gorgoroth at MySpace