p e n g u i n d e v i l

Well, that was rad. While yes, the audio/visual doesn’t compare with the production on Emperor’s Emperial Live Ceremony DVD (the only other black metal concert dvd that I’ve seen and… Dear Amazon, that’s Emperial, with an E), Gorgoroth is more to my taste and this concert is astounding in its setup and nerve. While the families bounded around in the backyard, The Sewer and I (see here for a real review) stayed inside and got our blackness on by soaking up Gorgoroth’s infamous Black Mass Krakow 2004 concert DVD on his much more wonderful viewing device.

I must say, this is a great DVD! Yes, the sound could be mixed better, but I imagine that if you turn it up loud enough, you’ll survive. But the image quality is fine, though it would have been sharper with the red toned down a smidgen, but that’s my only complaint… I liked the green lighting the best. The wealth of cameras bounding around filming this give it a real professional feel (though the drum cameras don’t seem to have the same image quality, or any real point)… But the high point is the show itself!

Gorgoroth obviously wanted to make quite a statement with this… Bloodied, hooded and naked people “crucified” on-stage, sheep heads all around and generous splashings of blood surround the band as they do their best to look menacing. And menacing they do. It’s one time that you can feel quite sure that most of the blood splashed around this show isn’t stage blood, and those dozens and dozens of sheep heads that I kept thinking someone might jump on stage and steal are the real deal. And the band, well, they’ve got a pretty good look going, but Gaahl is so wonderfully menacing here that while watching him, I began to feel like this was the moment he began hatching the plot to usurp the band from Infernus.

Gorgoroth are one of the great classic original True Norwegian Black Metal bands, with a sound unique from all the masses that came afterwards. It shows as they blast through “hits” such as: Bergtrollets Hevn, Destroyer, Procreating Satan and The Rite of Infernal Invocation. They really have their thing down tight and this show is like watching them promenade into the dance in their finest garb, looking to impress those of their ilk and intimidate all others.

Song selection wise, it leans heavily on Twilight of the Idols (which makes sense), and I would have preferred more songs from Antichrist and Destroyer, but there are some great songs here… I enjoyed the bloodied crucified folks, what should be a normal touch for a Black Metal show. Of course, I could have done without the sheep head’s, but they certainly added a special something aesthetically. It was one of those must see concerts… If only it hadn’t been in Krakow.

Oh yes, and be sure to check out Peter Beste’s newest version of his Norwegian Black Metal photo project, True Norwegian Black Metal. As the cashier at Powell’s said, it’s about the best coffee table book ever, and one of the best books buys you’ll make (for $37 at Amazon). And for the ladies out there, it’s got plenty of pictures of Gaahl…