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Gorgoroth

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

Gorgoroth were a black metal band from Bergen, Norway. The band has gone through numerous lineup changes, with recent intra-band conflicts calling the band's future into question.

Though they never print their lyrics, their imagery and general stance focuses primarily on satanism, anti-Christianity, and other such topics. 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 frontman Gaahl. Band members openly insist their music is primarily a catalyst to aid anti-Christian sentiment, criticizing those who listen to their music without sharing such ideology [1]. Additionally, Gaahl has been referred to as "the most despised man in Norway", following a series of violent convictions (most noteably his prolonged six-hour torture of a man in Norway, which resulted in a 9 month prison sentence).

Biography

Cover of Destroyer

Gorgoroth was formed in 1992 by guitarist Infernus, vocalist Hat, and drummer Goatpervertor. In 1993, the band released their first demo, entitled A Sorcery Written In Blood. It was also released as a split album with Burzum entitled Burzum & Gorgoroth; it contained the same tracks as the demo plus various Burzum songs. After the demo was released, Gorgoroth signed a record deal with Embassy Productions and started work on their debut full-length Pentagram. The infamous 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—on Destroyer.

Cover of Twilight of the Idols

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).

Guitarist Infernus is currently starting his own record label called Forces of Satan.

In October of 2007, Gaahl and Infernus had an undisclosed argument over the future of the band. Using a MySpace bulletin, they announced their splitting up. On October 22, this was confirmed on the band's official website, with Infernus leaving the band (although Infernus claims to still have control over the band's MySpace page), but Gaahl and King ov Hell to continue touring and releasing material under the Gorgoroth name. According to the band, a court case between Infernus and Gorgoroth will ensue over ownership of the band's name.

Band members

Current Claimants

Contesters

  • Infernus (Roger Tiegs) - Guitar, vocals, bass, drums - (1992-)

Live members

Former members

Discography

Studio albums

Live albums

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

Demos and promos

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 - 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. Given the fact that the lyrics are almost impossible to decipher (as with many extreme metal lyrics), 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 live broadcast concert in Kraków, Poland, the band displayed sheep heads on stakes, a bloodbath of 80 litres of sheep's blood, satanic symbols, and four naked crucified models on stage. One of the female models fainted. 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 organiser faced two years in prison 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.

Gaahl, Assault charges

Shortly after the Poland Incident, singer Gaahl was sentenced to 18 months incarceration for the assault of a 41-year-old man and threatening to drink his blood in Norway in 2002. He appealed the case, and in spring 2006, he was sentenced to 14 months in jail, as well as paying the victim a sum of 158,000 NOK (however, Gaahl would only end up serving 9 months). He was released from prison in December 2006.

Infernus, Rape charges

In February 2005, Infernus was accused of raping a young woman at an after-party - who by then had been drunk. She claimed she was kept hostage and abused for more than an hour before she managed to flee in just a towel. Infernus was found not guilty of the actual rape, but was still charged with his indifferent attitude as the rape was committed by a friend of his and he did nothing to stop it, even though he claimed to not have known that the woman had been raped before asking her to have sex with him, to which she consented. He was set to be free late Feb 2007. Released on parole from prison March 6th, 2007.

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 bizarre life of Gorgoroth vocalist Gaahl, and can be viewed on YouTube. [2]

  1. ^ http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=82379
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