After a lengthy legal battle with ex-members over the band name, GORGOROTH leader Infernus has unleashed Quantos Possunt Ad Satanitatem Trahunt by recruiting a few well known musicians for this project – vocalist Pest from back in the band, along with Frank Watkins (OBITUARY) and Tomas Asklund (ex-DISSECTION, DARK FUNERAL) to round out this super group of sorts.

Immediately, the dry production of Quantos reminds the listener of DISSECTION’s Reinkaos album, and a few of the same mundane beats used by Asklund are also featured on the opening track. While Pest’s vocals are quite tormenting and fit the black metal genre perfectly, the bland riffs and stale drumming turns off the listener to this hyped up album. The first few tracks show that the band has lost its edge and power of earlier GORGOROTH material, as witnessed on Antichrist and Pentagram.

A song like “Rebirth” fits Asklund’s simpler drumming style better and the band can actually write good, slow songs; something that MARDUK has failed to do. “Building A Man” kicks in with an older GORGOROTH feel, which finally brings some life to this album. That is until the next track, “New Breed” - which sounds like a b-side from the Reinkaos sessions. After a few uninspired tracks, Quantos builds some momentum, but it’s too little, too late. “Satan - Prometheus” becomes one of the best tracks on the album, as Asklund finally blasts like he used to with DARK FUNERAL, and Pest shows off his clean vocals, with a much better range than Gaahl. “Introibo ad Alatare Satanas”, a short outro, is an excellent song for all 53 seconds, but leaves the album ending abruptly.

Quantos, like all GORGOROTH albums, are short and to the point, but it seems as if the album is more of a cluster of riffs mixed in a pile, and the arrangement of the songs are a little too haphazardly placed together. GORGOROTH is still living due to the name and reputation, but the music is not as brash and exciting as it once was. (Regain Records)

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