Gorgoroth – Gorgoroth: Climax Analysis

Gorgoroth’s second album is often considered to be their magnum opus and one of the greatest Norwegian black metal albums despite coming out significantly later than the other recognized classics from that era. The band were capable of writing an album on the level of their predecessors with their own voice unlike many of their peers, as black metal was already slowing down by that point. While every song on Antichrist is particularly strong due to the album’s short length leaving no room for filler, “Gorgoroth” stands out above the rest for its particularly heart wrenching climax.

The song’s climax is briefly teased as being a variation of the previous riff with some tapping on top. Infernus allows himself a little melodic detour where he plays a solo before returning to the climax in full force. The band hit us from three angles: the underlying rhythm riff; the tapping solo on top; and Hat combining tonal baritone vocals with his high pitched black metal shriek. While not as defining, Frost’s subdued drumming greatly enriches this entire segment.

Rhythm Guitar

Like in most of their best work, Gorgoroth here exploit the simplest ideas to their fullest potential , which often means focusing on a single chord, breaking it down into single notes and then extracting everything they can from it before moving on to another idea. Here the band goes through these proceedings with an A minor chord – not a particularly special chord in any shape or form and one of the central chord shapes in western music, but the band stick to it and break it down to its two most characteristic notes that are tremolo picked on repeat. What makes the melody remarkable is how the band conclude that repetition with two distinct endings. At the tail of the first part there is a three note descent that follows the scale and leads back to the two note repetition in a satisfying way. What truly makes this riff remarkable, however, is the second ending: it ends with the same 2 note pattern, but shifted down chromatically – a simple shift with enormous consequences for the entire sequence. The entire song up to this point was written completely in the natural minor scale but the brief transition into harmonic minor allows for more exotic melodies and more importantly the use of a leading tone to create tension.

A leading tone only occurs when the highest note in the scale is a semitone below the root note and thus naturally “leads” back to the stability of the root note. The two note pattern that concludes the riff can be interpreted as a G# minor chord but due to the riff respecting tonal conventions is actually a G# diminished chord. Diminished chords by nature create tension and drama but also demand resolution. By placing it at the end of the riff it gives the following repetition a lot more power because it desperately calls for that singular A minor chord on which this riff is based on. By creating a need for that chord, there is no reason for more complexity as that would just obfuscate the beauty of the riff.

Lead Guitar

Tapping was never a popular technique within black metal, possibly due to its perceived flashiness and lack of melodic content. While this technique has been endlessly abused by many hard rock and heavy metal bands to create vapid melodies, there are a few instances like this where it can enhance a song. Infernus sticks to a simple four pattern phrase that repeats each bar without any variations. The four patterns all consist of power chords broken down to their constituent notes but even without the context of the underlying riff, this tapping sequence is a melody unto itself. By concentrating exclusively on the root notes we can see that the melody emphasizes the root note and thus the A minor chord by repeating it for the first half before jumping to the minor third which briefly accentuates the sorrow evoked by this song and leads it to its most enigmatic note. The final note in this melody is a tone above the root note and does not particularly yearn to be resolved by it but it is also contained within the G# diminished chord of the rhythm guitar. This gives it a certain amount of ambiguity and mystery and enforces the tension of the rhythm guitars by providing an alternative that does not seek to monopolize the listener’s attention. Eventually the lead guitar ends on a sustained root note as the interplay of the rhythm guitars and the vocals carry this song to the end.

Vocals

The embodiment of black metal romanticism. Inspired by Abbath and Varg Vikernes, Hat uses a powerful screech that is expelled from his chest and resonates in his head, a very similar approach to Rob Halford’s on Painkiller. Even though the basis of his tone never changes to accommodate different pitches, his singing is never monotonous and is full of subtle changes in his voice as he goes through different moments of the story at hand. Here he opts to lead with tonal vocals in the style of Norwegian folk music, sticking to a simple vocal melody that also emphasizes the root note but with a little ascent at the end. It’s catchy, enriches the melody without any subversions and Hat’s deep baritone voice never overwhelms the guitars. The black metal shrieks are used as a response to the sung vocals by providing a rhythmic counter that doesn’t seek to create a “beauty and the beast” dynamic of opposites but rather two different forms of expression that join to conjure the same sensation of grandeur. The shrieks are restrained but the sudden switches in cadence and the overall emotional delivery feel like an extension of the tonal parts and conclude this majestic song perfectly.

Conclusion

By exploiting a simpler two note idea to its fullest potential and from there building on top of it, “Gorgoroth” is a testament to what black metal was expressing through its use of layers, minimalistic ideas and the appropriate use of repetition to create what was highly emotional music at its apex. Gorgoroth show how standard narrative arrangements can offer the best results and that black metal was never supposed to be wallpaper music but a varied style with its own twists and turns and defining statements.