ALBUM REVIEW: Divine Judgement – Gomorra

Swiss quintet GOMORRA have released their debut record Divine Judgement, having signed with record label Noble Demon in late 2019. The band is made up of vocalist Jonas Ambühl, guitarists Dominic Blum and Damir Eskić – the latter also guitarist for DESTRUCTION, Stefan Hӧsli on drums and bassist Nico Ardüser.

The new record begins with the intro track Canaan; a soft and gentle echo of the guitar and the crackles of a vinyl adding to the atmosphere, flowing straight into the self-titled track Gomorra. All of a sudden everything is turned on its head as the pace intensifies through the riffs and percussion and the metal really kicks in. Jonas’ powerful vocals carries the track through, and the whole song is a very strong opening to the record.

Up next is Flames of Death, and certainly from the opening moments there is little difference to the previous track, but soon enough the tempo picks up even more and the riffs become more complex. Things slow down a touch when it comes to the chorus, but for the vast majority of the track it is pure energy from start to finish.

While the opening two tracks are very hard hitting from the off and have more of a thrash metal feel to them, the speed lowers a little for the following track Hope For The Righteous. The guitars aren’t quite as complex compared to the opening two, and there is certainly more of a build up to the first verse. On the flip side of that, while the vocals have been quite clean up until this point there is certainly more of a darker approach to them in this particular track, not just from Jonas but the other band members as well, and it adds another dimension to the band’s sound.

Once you get to this stage of the album there is not a lot of change to the overall recipe, with some of the tracks faster than others being the only main difference. That doesn’t detract from the quality of the songs themselves, and some notable mentions to check out on the record are Brother We’re Damned, which features a number of different elements from different sub-genres and it really keeps you on your toes as you listen to it, and also Angels amongst us, which really has a lot of IRON MAIDEN throughout and is certainly a bit of a throwback for fans of NWOBHM.

While this is a debut record for GOMORRA, the band themselves are not new and have been around for a number of years; firstly from 1994-2000 as THE GONORRHEAS before changing their name to GONOREAS up until 2019. This incarnation of the band has three of the members from GONOREAS with Jonas, Stefan and Damir, so for those of us who are familiar with the previous bands then you will know what to expect.

For those who have yet to come across any of the bands then you’re in for a treat; Divine Judgement is an excellent showcase for what heavy metal at its finest is like, and has been well executed by the band. The sound overall is well put together and everything combines perfectly, and no matter how broad or narrow your horizons are when it comes to metal this album has something for everyone.

Rating: 8/10

Divine Judgement is out now via Noble Demon.

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