With Satyricon's Frost handling drumming duties, "Wound Upon Wound" starts off _AMSG_ with the same overpowering sense of malice as "Procreating Satan" did on its predecessor. In unmitigated contrast to his disappointingly muted efforts on _Now, Diabolical_, Frost unchained is nothing short of glorious: confidently technical, uncannily intuitive and almost always bordering on a speed of mach five, his carpet-bombing style serves as a welcome and effective addition to Gorgoroth's already impressive arsenal. "Carving a Giant" harks back to the hypnotic grinding of _Destroyer_, underpinned as it is by an almost militant backbeat. In contrast, "God Seed" ratchets up the speed quotient again, this time delving even further back to more traditional black metal melodies, though by no means sounding dated.

As has been the case time and again with Gorgoroth, it's over far too soon, and eight tracks spanning just over a half an hour are all we're granted for our three year wait. Then again, that could well be the point. After all, to steal a pun, philosophizing with a hammer was never meant to be carried out across a lengthy expanse of pompous, cartoonish fretboard wankery, and the seventh chapter in Gorgoroth's impressive discography definitely strikes out in a most inexorable manner. Jon Nödtveidt would do well to take lessons.