Mistiggo Varggoth Darkestra

The Key to the Gates of Apocalypse (The End)
by Scott Hefflon

A seventy-two minute, single track concept album from Kniaz Varggoth of Nokturnal Mortem. Seeing as Nokturnal Mortem is one of the most punishing, straight-for-the-throat black metal bands who’ve yet to become household names (curses, actually), this concept album is kind of a let-down. While it’s a great freakin’ name and there’re many, many beautifully horrific moments here (either frightening sound effects or some fine quality mid-tempo “blackened shriek” metal), there’s simply no reason for this to be one track, thus making it impossible to double-back on your favorite parts. And what sounds like a drum machine is kind of distracting. While, as mentioned, there are magnificent moments, there’s a helluva lot of scratch-the-surface-with-a-rusty-meat-hook filler. Sabbathism (and Celtic Frostisms) fizzle as they aren’t supported or surrounded by much of anything. So while you get the spectrum of Skinny Puppy gone black metal mixed with all sorts of pure black metal and eerie sounds (Gothic choirs, cathedral organs, shrieks and howls, shredding riffs and Sabbathy minor chords), this’d be a much better record if it were different tracks stitched together by oddities (like Master of Reality, perhaps). And that drum machine has to go. Let’s hope Varggoth is inspired to push himself further in the future, seeing as he obviously has the talent.
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