Gorgoroth. The most hated band in black metal.

You know, as bad as this “Twilight of the Idols – In Conspiracy with Satan” album is, it’s definitely an improvement over their atrocious “Pentagram” debut, as many people seem to think.

Then again, considering what we had to deal with on that album, I guess a lot of things would’ve been an improvement over it. And yes, I will compare the two albums. Anyway, let’s give this “Twilight of the Idols – In Conspiracy with Satan” album a closer look.

I’ll start with the guitars. On the debut, they sounded way too thin and the riffs sounded random at best. Here? For a change, the guitars kind of sound like black metal guitars and you can hear actual riffs… they’re generic at best, no doubt about it, but I guess anything is better than what we had to hear before by this band.

Infernus (aka Inferanus) was always a very mediocre musician, more interested in getting featured in trashy tabloid sex scandals with Richard Spencer than making actually compelling black metal music.

As for the drums, they at least sound like drums and not like trash cans with ping pong balls inside this time… also, the drummer doesn’t tire as fast as he used to on “Pentagram” or “Incipit Satan“. The bass still cannot be heard, however. Seriously, has that been some kind of a trend in the last two decades of black metal or so? Eh, whatever. Breakdowns are, for a change, not abused and are slightly less stupid than before, but still feel out of place as “Twilight of the Idols – In Conspiracy with Satan” is supposed to be black metal, not war metal or deathcore.

Even the vocals became much better, thanks to the arrival of new vocalist Gaahl certainly, although they’re still not good. The homo squeals from the debut are unfortunately still present, but the good thing is that they’re heavily downplayed… the result is a little less irritation for the listener. This time, the focus is on actual shouts, like in grindcore but even more stupid. They’re not the worst I’ve heard, not even in deathcore and slamming death metal, but they are pretty unconvincing nonetheless. Also, there are no unintentional chuckles to be provided on “Twilight of the Idols – In Conspiracy with Satan”. Or maybe I don’t find such tired shit funny anymore, who knows.

In the end, though, would I recommend this album to anyone? No. Long story short, “Twilight of the Idols – In Conspiracy with Satan” is not worth your time. If nothing else, this album is just way too boring and generic, hence, pointless, and you’re not missing out on anything by ignoring it like the rest of Gorgoroth albums. No need to check it out unless you just cannot control your curiosity no matter what. Replace with actual black metal, i.e. Marduk’s “Frontschwein” or Graveland’s “Dawn of Iron Blades“.