OV HELL – The Underworld Regime CD review

OV HELL – The Underworld Regime CD
Indie Recs.

King Ov Hell is just one big fuckin schmuck. At least Gaahl had the decency to bow out gracefully after they both lost the court case to see who (them or Infernus) really owned the band name GORGOROTH. Sure they vowed to keep going under the new name GODSEED but Gaahl played it smart. He saw the writing on the wall and figured he’d leave King swinging in the wind while he would keep some self respect amidst all the foolishness they both perpetrated against Infernus. Maybe in a couple of years Gaahl might pop his melodramatic Satanist head up to do some recording. His work with WARDRUNA last year was decent and another TRELLDOM release wouldn’t hurt. Hey look fans are forgiving after some time has passed, look at Varg for example. But King is just one big fuckin schmuck and this CD proves it.

Prior to the release of The Underworld Regime, King Ov Hell mentioned in interviews that the material for it was written while he was still part of GORGOROTH and GOD SEED. I believe it since this all sounds like rehashed GORGOROTH with parts taken from Ad Majorem Sathanas Gloriam and to a lesser extent Incipit Satan. This material was written for Gaahl to sing with whoever they could get to play guitars and drums. Obviously that didn’t happen and even if it did fans and critics alike would’ve trashed it as uninspired, average and downright boring. Maybe Gaahl heard the demos and decided to exit stage left? So now instead of that what we have here is essentially King Ov Hell’s solo record with a backing band of star hirelings. Wow, how mainstream rock star is that?

Let’s be honest here, if King decided to just go back to his other band projects like AUDREY HORNE or SAHG no one would slight him for it. Even if he put together a new band with all unknowns performing black metal and started from the ground up he would at least have some self respect and maybe gain some from others. But no he chose the route of a schmuck. He gets Shagrath (DIMMU BORGIR) as vocalist and supposedly lyricist as a replacement for Gaahl. He could have got anyone with talent but with Shagrath he gets name recognition. What’s surprising is that DIMMU BORGIR is supposed to be coming out with a new release this year. Why would he even be bothering with this? And speaking of people who should be spending more time with their established bands we have Frost from 1349 and SATYRICON on drums. Frost had appeared on some past GORGOROTH releases. As far as the guitarists go there’s Ice Dale who King brought in from their working together with AUDREY HORNE and then there’s Teloch whose rap sheet is like a who’s who of Norwegian black metal bands. So basically what we have here is a black metal super group just killing time performing shoddy old material.

If you were to compare this to Quantos Possunt Ad Satanitatem Trahunt, Infernus’s rebirth of GORGOROTH release from last year you would probably dropped this in the trash. The real GORGOROTH’s release from last year had this cold sinister atmosphere about it. I thought it was one of the best black metal releases of 2009. But The Underworld Regime is for kids or commercially driven Myspace Metal morons who don’t even know who Infernus is. The only high note is that this will be Indie Recordings’ biggest seller for a little while.

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