Entertaining Mixture of Gothic Rock and Industrial Metal - A Review of Gothminister's Pandemonium

Norwegian industrial gothic metal quartet Gothminister has been around for two decades and counting and has just released its seventh full length effort Pandemonium five years after its last output The Other Side. The new record offers a short overture and ten full songs for a concise running time of forty minutes. The album has certainly been worth the wait and turns out to be one of the greatest releases in the band's career.

The opening "Abgrund (Abyss)" oozes with gloomy keyboard sounds and comes around with a spooky quote by German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. Title track "Pandemonium" offers simple but energetic industrial metal soundscapes with loud guitar sounds and thunderous rhythm section while the programming offers apocalyptic soundscapes with uneasy orchestral sounds and urgent choirs. This song is quite ambitious, complex and imaginative as it might need a few spins to unfold. Once this has however been achieved, the title track stands the test of time as one of the greatest in the band's career. It was rightfully chosen as title track and first single and the accompanying music video is visually stunning and should please anyone sympathizing with gothic culture.

The highlights don't stop here. "Kingdoms Rise" flirts with Neue Deutsche Härte sounds in the key of Oomph! and Rammstein as it finds the perfect balance between stoic guitar riffs and cold rhythm section on one side and slightly warm keyboard passages and dark but comforting vocals on the other side. It doesn't come as a surprise that Gothminister has been receiving positive critical acclaim for many years in Germany.

"Norge" on the other side honours the band's country of origin. The song is a rhythmic stomper that invites to dance while the melodic guitar play and keyboard sounds make for a longing and almost romantic atmosphere. This song might be the record's hidden gem as it turns out to be quite a grower.

The album never declines in quality and ends on a high note with "Mastodon" which turns out to be one of the most creative tunes on the record. Dark whispers, restrained black metal shrieks, low clean vocals and additional female backing vocals take listeners on an epic voyage. The musicianship varies from moody electronic elements over industrial metal guitar play to dramatic symphonic metal passages. It might take some time for all these elements to blend together and grow on listeners but the song gets more interesting with every single spin and turns out to be the best tune on this output along with the great title track.

At the end of the day, Gothminister's Pandemonium should certainly appeal to fans of gothic rock and industrial metal. Every song on this output is at least decent with several ones being great and two turning out to be shining highlights in the aforementioned genres. Since the band's visual concept has also always been quite fascinating, one can't wait to listen to the new material in concert next year. Perhaps the time has come for Gothminister to release a live album next. Let's wait and see while listeners should keep enjoying Pandemonium time and again.

Final Rating: 80%