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God Seed: I begin
07/12/12 || jaimeviejo
Starting this review talking about Gorgoroth is not fair, but it’s inevitable. What is fair is to say that this is a brilliant debut that I didn’t see coming. Probably by now all of you know about the tribulations between Gorgoroth’s founder Infernus and his two ex-band mates and now nemesis, King ov Hell and Gaahl. Gorgoroth were just great at making old school Norwegian black metal, but after listening to “I Begin”, it seems like, one: the band limited themselves as musicians during that period or, two: Infernus was the weight dragging the boat.
This is the first studio album release by King and Gaahl together since Gorgoroth’s “Ad Majorem Sathanas Gloriam” and it honestly outshines anything done by Gorgoroth or the boring “Ov Hell” album released during Gaahl’s short retirement from music. What at first seems like a classic black metal album eventually discovers itself as a perfectly arranged and written debut with progressive elements and an outstanding performance by Gaahl.
Around 2009 King stated, “God Seed represents the will to grow, the will to be the super man so to speak”, so it seems that the whole concept about God Seed is the growth and evolution of the race linked to nihilism and Nietzche’s idea of the super man. A concept already used to boring extremes, especially in the metal circles but that helps to explain the experimental nature of the band’s sound.
Just for the nerds, the booklet is a bit disappointing, as it doesn’t contain the lyrics of the songs, something that makes me very angry when I buy an album. Instead, we have some eerie photos of hands, clouds, and some demonic looking stones. It would have been interesting to be able to read what Gaahl wrote this time, as it was publicized that it took him a while to write the lyrics because he wanted them to be perfect.
The muddy production of the album is going to be a problem for some
people out there, as it is really weird for a black metal album. Besides
Gaahl’s voice and the synths that seem to have priority on the mix, the
rest just melts together. I think this is a really unique recording
that has the best of both worlds: the raw muddiness of classic black
metal mixed with the clarity of modern recordings.
The star of the album is Gaahl. His work in Wardruna has made him more
aware of the power of his voice. Now he alternates spoken word, typical
black metal screams, and some other deep voice tricks that add variety
to the album. Without worshipping his persona after all the publicity
and polemic declarations surrounding him, his vocal delivery is solid,
versatile, and really unique.
The progressive arrangements in this album work perfectly because they are skillfully integrated within the songs. Without being as cheesy and excessive as Dimmu Borgir or other symphonic black metal bands, they manage to create a feeling of frosty evilness without sounding formulaic, and most importantly they help to keep things interesting throughout the whole album. Probably all this is because of Geir Bratland, former keyboardist of the synth-pop band Apoptygma Berzerk, does an excellent job mixing organs with more modern sounding synthesizers and electronics.
I really enjoyed this album as a whole, but some of my favorite moments were: the wonderful album opener “Awake”, “This from the past”, and it’s excessive orgasmic ending, “Alt liv” because of the wide array of vocal arrangements by Gaahl “Lit” which could be the best atmospheric tracks on the album which has a part around 2.30 that reminds me of the soundtracks made by Goblin for the Dario Argento movies, the chaotic “Hinstu Dagar” or the main riff in “The Wound”. God Seed has capabilities to be a project that can have a long lasting career only if these characters can survive each other.
With “I Begin”, the band shows that there is a future in Black Metal behind the make-up, satanic lyrics and the machine gun blast beats in the form of a mature, evil, and musically interesting metal recording. The “Prosperity and Beauty” promise that Gorgoroth made once has manifested itself with the name of God Seed.
- Information
- Released: 2012
- Label: Indie Recordings
- Website: God Seed MySpace
- Band
- Gaahl: vocals
- Sir: guitars
- Lust Kilman: guitars
- King: bass
- Geir Bratland: keys & noise
- Kenneth Kapstad: drums
- Tracklist
- 01. Awake
- 02. This From the Past
- 03. Alt Liv
- 04. From the Running of Blood
- 05. Hinstu Dagar
- 06. Aldrande Tre
- 07. Lit
- 08. The Wound
- 09. Bloodline
