Malice (Our third spell) --- Gehenna --- 1996 (Cacophonus Records)
Titled, I guess, that way because although it was their second album, technically it was their third recording, and the first one was called “First spell” with the second titled .... oh, you get it don't you? I don't need to explain this. The only lineup change I see here is that bassist Svartalv has been replaced by Noctifer, and while I don't wish to denigrate bassists, I don't see that as having a huge effect on the music. It's a dark and surly guitar that kicks off “She who loves the flames” but I also hear orchestral hits which I assume are made by Sarcana. The tempo pretty immediately kicks up though, Dirge Rep givin' it plenty behind the kit, and it's a much faster song that anything I've heard from the band to date. I still wouldn't call this straight Black Metal though; it's more a mix of thrash and black to me. For what little I know of the second subgenre.
Things march along nicely with “Made to suffer”, and I think I hear Sarcana getting in on the action there with some sprightly piano, though it's hard to hear behind the wall of guitars being put up. Powerful and energetic, certainly, and not half bad at all. He does however get a chance to wind up his organ again as “Touched and left for dead” opens, the song a slower, meandering kind of tune with a repetitive melody going through it, quite hypnotic at times. If there's such a thing as a Black Metal ballad, this probably comes the closest of what I've heard so far. Damn fine guitar riff holding it all together, and the rhythm section do well. Again, I manage to catch some of what Dolgar is singing:
”This is the way to Hell!” Thanks mate! Been driving around in circles for hours looking for it. Why don't they have it on these bloody Satnavs then, eh?
Another big guitar line opens “Bleeding the blue flame”, then it takes off at lightspeed, rivalling the likes of Slayer and Anthrax in the speed stakes. Goes into some fairly freakish guitar histrionics in the last minute or so before sprinting for the finish, and taking us into “Manifestation”, which just goes for it, heads-down from the outset. A big rolling growl from Dolgar sets us on our way and Sanrabb shreds as fast and as hard as he possibly can, nearly crossing into neoclassical territory at times. “
Ad arma! Ad arma!” is the longest Gehenna track I've experienced yet, a whopping fourteen minutes long, and like the previous one it charges right out of the gate, galloping on the hammering guitar of Sanrabb and the thunderous drumming of Dirge Rep. No room for keys here, at least not yet! It's pounding along into the sixth minute with no sign of a change, which in a song this long would I think be a missed opportunity, but we'll see.
The guitar work is certainly excellent and would rival any thrash guitarist you care to name. You can't help but move to it, and that's not usually my reaction to this subgenre. It's intense with a capital “I” and it just seems to keep going. Even though it's basically the same chord played over and over with Dolgar roaring over them, there's something about it that keeps it from being boring, perhaps the sheer energy it exudes. As we hit the eighth minute though it all stops and Sarcana takes over, with deep, doomy synth effects and lines, possible backwards masking (how very Black Metal of you, guys!) This however carries on well into the twelfth minute and though it's effective it does give the impression of just being there to stretch out the song. Some guitar does burst through near the end, and thankfully much of this song has been devoid of vocals, giving it a kind of progressive/thrash feel, but it is definitely way too long for what's in it.
Everything comes down to earth with a doomy crash as “Pentagram” hits, with cowbells (or some sort of bells anyway) and a nice slow searing guitar line, then Sarcana comes in and it takes off in almost an AOR or melodic metal direction for a moment before Dirge Rep and Dolgar grab it by the throat and floor the pedal, hurtling down the road with not a care who might be in their way. Not to be outdone though, Sarcana adds in some synth wails and moans as the song careens along, Sanrabb racking off some pretty sweet smokin' solos. The title track just batters you down with a heavy guitar, crushing drums and a nasty vocal that comes from the very bowels of Hell itself. Or Bergen. Wherever these guys are from. Stavanger. Yeah. The very bowels of Stavanger. And that's one cold place! It gets into something of a normal rock groove with a faint Arabic twist to it before it all goes to Hell --- or Stavanger --- again, and then some pretty proggy keyboards from Sarcana calm the tune down somewhat. It ends rather quietly, oddly enough, on a single guitar.
“The word made flesh” has a whispered growl to get it underway, dark rumbling synth and bass before it too flies off the handle as each of the band strives to outdo the other in speed. You know, it's weird: this kind of music is usually not my thing but I find myself grooving to this. Don't know why. I'm not a Black Metal aficionado at all. Maybe this is not Black Metal. But it sure sounds like it. Closer “Before the seventh moon” is just as fast as the last few tracks, perhaps faster, and yet there is melody in there. Keyboard flurries populate the music here and there, and the guitar is pretty bitchin', so I guess my final decision is still pending, but I know I don't hate this.
TRACKLISTING
1. She who loves the flames
2. Made to suffer
3. Touched and left for dead
4. Bleeding the blue flame
5. Manifestation
6.
Ad arma ad arma
7. The pentagram
8. Malice
9. The word become flesh
10. Before the seventh moon
So, in the end, is this a band who have gone through a complete metamorphosis over the course of their first three releases? Well, yes and no. There's no questioning the fact that the debut EP was a far more melodic, restrained effort, and far removed from any Black Metal album I've ever listened to. The second came more towards perhaps what you might consider standard Black Metal and the third more or less reinforced that direction. Or to put it in the words of Tron_79 on the Metal Archives forum:
“the styles changed quite a bit on these three albums from a primarily midtempo, almost soothing sound from "the first spell" to a raw gritty sound of "the second spell" to more of a polished sound which sounds like a combination of the first two releases on "the Third Spell.”
I'd agree with this, from what I've heard. I doubt anyone would challenge that statement. However I still think that the second and third albums (or to be more precise, since the first was an EP, the first and second albums) retained a lot of the melody and even mellowness at times displayed on the debut. Word has it that on their sixth album, “WW”, released in 2005, they went for a more melodic approach, though opinion seems to be divided as to how successfully that translated on the album. Indeed, after “Malice” Gehenna seem to have gone for a more death metal idea, so perhaps here are their three most melodic albums.
But it's certainly a journey, beginning with an album --- okay, okay! An EP! --- that surprised me pleasantly and ending with an album that kind of pulled the rug from under my feet, having got so comfortable with the sound I was getting from this band. Either way, and however they ended up, Gehenna have served to show me that there is more to Black Metal than just gutteral shouts and screams, blindingly fast guitars and hammer drums. You just have to open your mind, and your ears, and go looking for it.