"Satanic perverse black latex metal", as they used to put it themselves. Finnish band Gaurithoth were highly influenced by other Finnish band, namely Impaled Nazarene. One of the guys even had a tattoo of Baphomet wearing a gas mask on his chest. If you do not enjoy banging your ***insert your favourite bangable body part here*** to Impaled Nazarene, I cannot see you enjoy doing it to the beat of Gaurithoth either.

Starting with eerie singing of a hymn, perverted by manipulating its speed and tone. Soon, the band explode into action with trebly and evil black metal, but I think it's that same hymn they play themselves in the song, giving it that warped, melodic edge. 'Satan's Apostle' introduces the blast beats, and this is where it highly reminds of Impaled Nazarene. Razor-sharp guitar tone is trebly, doing its best to pierce listeners' eardrums, tremolo picking stuff and somewhat punky riffage happen, and lunatic vocalization is abound. The band introduce slower and more melodious parts in their music, making it sometimes feel like a homage to their masters, especially their 'Absence of War Does not Mean Peace' (2001) album; this album never goes that punky, no, nor that extreme as Impz usually did.

Gaurithoth did sound very Finnish, so finding loads of that minor scale dismality here is not a surprise at all. Mixing it with aggressive sonority was nothing new, but it feels very cosy, even though if one's getting beat by it. It's not wholly about IN worship, but yes, it's totally Finnish-sounding. 'Verijuhla' reminds me about Enochian Crescent; it's definitely those Finnish lyrics, but yeah, I guess it's another band to name-drop here. I wish there was more of that cavernous vibe of the closer, though. More reverb = more epic! That slow song is an absolute gem in epic black metal field. It is also the sole song that goes over 5-minute mark, hitting almost double.

Two vocalists sound like they absconded from a mental asylum. They are all over the place. Shrieking, grunting and growling are accompanied by them fellas going "tra-la-la" at one point, or sounding like they were cutting themselves (or each other). Which they might have been doing. The duo do not sound okay, but their haze fits in perfectly. It is not over the top stuff like Silencer, you know?! Not all of the lyrics are printed, but sometimes it's rather easy to pick what is verbalized.

The production job is very clean. Trebliness and lower end are both in, but the latter isn't very low. Still, we get to hear the rumbling bass guitar! The sound is articulate, maybe too much so for some black metallers. However, here it simply boosts aggressiveness and attack.

If you crave for Impaled Nazarene style black metal attack with some gloomy vibes included, Gaurithoth's second, and final, album could work wonders. Just do not expect something special; it's simply vehement excursion of Finnish way of doing it. Now, sit on that massive butt-plug, bitch, time to go latex-black!

Rating: 7 (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
06/15/2021 11:40