From the cold roots of The First Spell through the more melodic Malice, GEHENNA have been a band that can clearly deliver the goods. After the departure of keyboardist Sarcana, the band unleashed Admirion Black, an album that masterfully combined black metal, death metal, and thrash into a style that can best be described as a more evil version of DIMMU BORGIR. But the band eventually shed their black metal roots–corpsepaint and all–on Murder, in which the band shaped their sound in a more brutal, DEICIDE-style of metal. Now after a four year absence, GEHENNA have returned with the oddly-titled WW, where they return to their black metal roots after their somewhat bland experiment in death metal. Tracks like “Death to Them All” explore black metal’s basics but finely incorporate GEHENNA’s trademark sinister style. Back is guitarist/co-vocalist Dolgar from his stints with TWIN OBSCENITY and FORLORN, and SATYRICON drummer Frost lends his skills (both fast and slow) that clearly bolster the effort. WW has everything a true purist or even a curious black metal fan could want–from the blasting intensity of “New Blood” and “Abbatoir,” to the cold, raw,
DARKTHRONE-meets-CELTIC FROST darkness of tracks such as “Flames of the Pit” and “Pallbearer,” WW is undoubtedly a succesfully return to their corrosive “true” Norwegian black metal roots. (Moonfog Productions)