Gorgoroth

Gorgoroth, meaning “land of great despair”, is a black metal band from Bergen, named after the dark plains of Mordor in J.R.R.Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. Led by guitarist Infernus (a.k.a. Roger Tiegs), it emerged in 1992 as a trio including vocalist Hat (‘Hate’ in Norwegian) and drummer Goat Pervertor. The band, based in Hyllestad, debuted on April 28th 1993 with a demo, entitled ’A Sorcery Written In Blood’, featuring two tracks ‘Sexual Bloodgargling’ and ‘(Under) The Pagan Megalith’ preceded by the intro ‘Gathered At Blåkulla’, actually a minute plus of incoherent screaming.

A further cassette, simply entitled ’Promo’94’, captured two more songs ‘Katharinas Bortgang’ and ‘Maaneskuggens Slave’. The opening 1994 ’Pentagram’ album, recorded at Grieghallen Studios with producer Pytten (a.k.a. Eirik Hundvin) for French label Embassy Productions, featured Emperor’s Samoth (a.k.a. Tomas Thormodsæter Haugen) on bass, due to the group’s original bassist Kjetter being imprisoned for his involvement in the burning of the 800 year old church Skjold Stavkirke.

A deliberate absence of lyrics, artwork and self-aggrandising promotion neatly served to focus purely on the musical content. The antecedent demo tracks all benefited from a re-cut whilst ‘Sexual Bloodgargling’ would be re-recorded under a revised title of ‘Ritual’. ’Pentagram’ gave no quarter, Gorgoroth’s grim and disciplined machinations unfettered by keyboards, atmospherics, effects. Further contributions also came from Satyricon drummer Frost (a.k.a. Kjetil Haraldstad).

Samoth himself was imprisoned for church burning and was duly replaced by Storm.