Haris: Allstar projects often look way more spectacular on paper when they are announced first time than their output sounds when putting the CD in the player first time. Glorious exceptions such as Bloodbath, Chaosbreed or Covenant prove the rule.
OV HELL is the creative heads Shagrath (Dimmu Borgir) and King (ex-Gorgoroth/ex-Audrey Horne/ex-and so on). That’s nothing particularly worldshaking – side projects and guest appearances are numerous. Much more interesting is the assumed “defence”: the two main men took Ice Dale on board, an axe man who regularly provokes happiness with inter alia Audrey Horne and I next to his main band Enslaved; alongside the drum whore deluxe Frost put himself forward to the line up, maybe the best Black Metal drummer nowadays. That one recruited his colleague Teloch of 1349 as second guitarist. So much for the line up. Let’s take a look if OV HELL make it to prove the mentioned rule as an exception.
The Underworld Regime is eclectic and the band heads for all known variations of Black Metal at the highest stage. Devil’s Harlot as opener matches high speed parts with thrashy riffs – short and simple, that’s the way OV HELL brings the song to the bottom line. Post Modern Sadist reminds of the epic moments of their fellow countrymen Immortal due to the slow and majestic tempo – the experimental track Ghosting is in the same wake.
The bluff package “playing time” is something that is apparent: almost four and a half minutes can be cut out of the running time – because that’s the added time of the intro/outro sequences on The Underworld Regime, which are generally felicitous. But considering the overall short running time, this fact casts a negative light on the album. Four and a half minutes is one more song! Next time please more songs, less intros/outros!

The Usurper: Oh no…another super group. After his joint effort to steal Gorgoroth failed the wanna be rockstar King ov Hell has returned with this lackluster effort, posing next to an actual rockstar, Shagrath of Dimmu Borgir fame. Can’t judge a book by its cover? Well, with his majesty saying “Look, I’m still black metal!” and Shagrath sucking in his beer gut, it’s hard not to, and the music is no help.
This music is not simply a repetition of his previous work with Gorgoroth; it isn’t even nearly as good. His highness does not break any new ground here, not even for himself. Some of these songs are eerily similar to his work on his last recording with Gorgoroth. Riffs all the way through Devils Harlot sound like they were lifted straight from Gorgoroth songs. Same with Hill Norge. Krigsatte Faner sounds like a merging of Carving A Giant and Wound Upon Wound…and on, and on. The good King also seems to be running out of ideas in other ways. The before mentioned Krigsatte Faner features a terrible harmony that sounds like a kids keyboard and is waaaay too happy a sound for this kind of music.
Vocalist Shagrath does not help the situation. He sometimes gives the impression that he is trying to imitate Gaahl, whose versatility fit Mr. OV HELL’s songwriting much better. Devil’s Harlot, Hill Norge, Perpetual Night and Postmodern Sadist are shining examples of vocals that are trademark Gaahl. Just like his full time band, Shagrath’s voice is a little to cookie cutter for this anyway. If King Ov Hell wanted a Gaahl impersonator, he should have hired Gaahl to do it.
There are a few highlights, Invoker easily being the best song here, showing King’s penchant for creating an atmosphere both violent and evil that calms briefly only to explode into one of his characteristic riffs that sound like the very mouth OV HELL opening up. Boasting a catchy chorus and close-but-no-cigar progression from his earlier work, Invoker is the most unique and stand out of these tracks. There are a few other good parts to be found in UnderWorld Regime, but usually they are ruined by some badly synthesized vocals or a horrible chorus or some ripped off riff. Krigsatte Faner ends in one of those awesome riffs which are accompanied by a pissed off sounding Shagrath singing in Norwegian, both coming together to create briefly what Underworld Regime should have sounded like. What was that joke about the best part of a song being the end?
As illustrated by his work with Gorgoroth, King ov Hell is a talented musician and if you dig this you would be better off checking out what he did with said band. This album falls on its face…HARD. Being both repetitive and step backwards, this isn’t really worth anyone’s time, especially if you are looking for quality. He should have called this Underworld Regimen, something repetitive that the King ov Hell does to keep himself in shape.
No Frosts were harmed in the writing of this review.