Extreme Metal Videos

Gorgoroth was founded in Norway by Hat (vocals), Goat (drums) and Infernus (guitars) in 1992. The name Gorgoroth is taken form the book Lord of The Rings, Gorgoroth is a dark and lifeless field where evil grows. In 1993 Gorgoroth released their first demo called "A Sorcery Written In Blood", Kjettar joined in on bass for that demo, but left right after.

After the demo, Gorgoroth signed to Embassy Rec. where they also released their first album, "Pentagram" in 1994. Samoth of Emperor did the bass on Pentagram. After the the release of Pentagram, Goat and Samoth left the band.

In 1996 Gorgoroth signed to Malicious Rec. which re-released Pentagram, the same year Gorgoroth released their second album Antichrist. On that album, Pest of Obtained Enslavement did the vocals and Frost of Satyricon did the drums, while Infernus played bass and guitar, and Hat did some vocals on track 2, 3 and 6. Later that year, Gorgoroth also released the MCD "The Last Tormentor", on that album Grim (Immortal, Borknagar etc.) replaced Frost on the drums while Ares of Aeternus joined on the bass.

In 1997, Gorgoroth released their last album on Malicious Rec. It was called "Under The Sign Of Hell". The same year Gorgoroth and the rest of the BM scene suffered a great loss when Grim died after drug abuse.

Late 1997, Gorgoroth signed to Nuclear Blast, and the following year they released the full-length album "Destroyer". The line-up for this album consisted of Infernus on bass and guitar, Tormentor on guitar, Gaahl from Trelldom on vocals, Vrolok of Aeternus on drums, Ares on bass, and T.Reaper on bass. Also contributing on this album was Pest on vocals, Frost on drums and Daimonion with some synth. In 1998, Gorgoroth also participated on the Darkthrone tribute "Darkthrone Holy Darkthrone", Gorgoroth covered Slottet I Det Fjerne, which also is an unlisted track on Destroyer. Much of the material on this album was recorded many years earlier, like track 3., which was recorded in 1994.

In 2000, the BM scene was once again amazed by maybe the best release of Gorgoroth ever, "Incipit Satan" hit the stores early 2000, the line-up for this album was Infernus (guitar and vocals), Tormentor (guitar), Gaahl (vocals), Sjt. Erichsen (drums) and King of Hell on bass. In early 2000, Sjt. Erichsen was replaced by a new drummer named Kvitrafn (ex-Det Hedenske Folk).

In late April 2004 Gorgoroth parted ways with their label Nuclear Blast. In late January 2005 they signed a new deal with the Swedish label Regain Records.

Gorgoroth is a black metal band from Bergen, Norway. The band has gone through numerous lineup changes, leaving guitarist Infernus as the only remaining original member. Their style, however, has remained relatively consistent from album to album. Though they never print their lyrics, their imagery and general stance focuses primarily on satanism, anti-Christianity, and other such topics. The name Gorgoroth is taken from the J.R.R. Tolkien series The Lord of the Rings, in which it is a dead plateau of evil and darkness in the land of Mordor.

Much controversy has surrounded the band, especially frontman Gaahl. Band members openly insist their music is primarily a catalyst to aid anti-Christian sentiment, criticizing those who listen to their music without sharing such ideology [1]. Additionally, Gaahl has been referred to as "the most despised man in Norway", following a series of violent convictions (most noteably his prolonged six-hour torture of a man in Norway, which resulted in a 9 month prison sentence).

Biography

Gorgoroth was formed in 1992 by guitarist Infernus, vocalist Hat, and drummer Goatpervertor. In 1993, the band released their first demo, entitled A Sorcery Written In Blood. It was also released as a split album with Burzum entitled Burzum & Gorgoroth; it contained the same tracks as the demo plus various Burzum songs. After the demo was released, Gorgoroth signed a record deal with Embassy Records and started work on their debut full-length Pentagram. The infamous Samoth of Emperor participated on the album by recording the bass tracks. After Pentagram was completed and released, Goat left the band and was replaced temporarily by Frost from Satyricon. This led the band directly into the recording of Antichrist, their second release. Vocalist Hat decided to leave Gorgoroth in 1995, but not until after he had finished recording the vocal tracks. It was at this time Gorgoroth's well-known vocalist Pest joined. Antichrist was a highly successful release, and led to the band's first live performances supporting Cradle of Filth. They also toured Norway and England with Satyricon and Dissection. Soon the name Gorgoroth was commonplace in the black metal underground, if somewhat overshadowed by some of the more famous black metal bands such as Mayhem or Emperor.

Following the release of the band's third album, Under the Sign of Hell (1997), and Gorgoroth's first headlining European tour, the well-known German heavy metal record label Nuclear Blast sought to sign Gorgoroth. The band accepted the offer in 1998. The first album recorded and released for Nuclear Blast was Destroyer (1998). New singer Gaahl joined the band at this time, but was heard on only one song—the title track—on Destroyer.

In 1999, Gorgoroth began journeying into unknown territory with the recording of Incipit Satan. Though written by Infernus once again, the album delved into musical ideas not expanded upon by the group in previous recordings. Songs such as "Will to Power" showcased strong industrial, dark ambient, and noise influences (more so than on Destroyer and Under the Sign of Hell, both of which showed signs of experimentation). The song "When Love Rages Wild in My Heart" featured clean, bluesy vocals . Overall, the album displayed progressive tendencies, yet still retained a traditional black metal edge and Infernus' signature sound.

Three years later, after further line-up changes, Gorgoroth began writing their new album Twilight of the Idols. The album showed a return to a more solidified black metal style, but was still quite different from early Gorgoroth releases, mainly due to the fact that most of the album's songs were written by bassist King ov Hell rather than Infernus. After the release of Twilight of the Idols, Gorgoroth terminated their contract with Nuclear Blast.

In 2006 Gorgoroth released Ad Majorem Sathanas Gloriam through Regain Records. For the recording, Frost performed on the drums again. This album helped the band to expand its fan base. Gorgoroth was nominated in the "Metal" category at the 35th annual Spellemann Awards for this album (the Norwegian equivalent to the Grammy Awards).

Guitarist Infernus is currently starting his own record label called Forces of Satan.