Gothminister – Pandemonium II: The battle of the underworlds (2024)

Admittedly this is my first encounter with Gothminister, but the moment I heard them I discovered something that is interesting to say the least, so here we are. To clear any confusion caused by the artwork, we have to do with a Gothic/Industrial sound with mainly clean vocals. The band has been active since 1999 and Pandemonium II is their 8th full length release.

What makes them interesting you may ask. For me, it is the mix of various ingredients that are present in bands like Rammstein, Samael, Death SS, Powerwolf and Lords of the Lost, even if Gothminister precede some of them. The good part is that we are not talking about a copycat of the above, the Norwegians are carving their own path. 

Despite where all signs point to, Pandemonium II is gothic but not in a nightmarish, cold and creepy way. In fact most of the choruses are more uplifting than melancholic and the numerous electronic parts more than bolster that direction. At the same time, even the most melodic songs have heavy segments thanks to their beefy rhythmic guitars and the result is far from watered down. Don’t go searching for your classic heavy metal riffology however, let’s not forget the Industrial part, in that aspect Gothminister come closer to the way Rammstein play. 

As for the tracklist, each song is designed to be a hit. You can enjoy the album as a whole package, but you can’t go wrong by adding any random pick to a playlist. Out of the ten equally good choices, I perhaps loved two more than the others. Battle of the Underworlds is the one, it serves as the introductory song, with its transition from a strong verse to an even better chorus making the most promising start. The first time it made me want something more from its follow ups, but even from the first revisit this feeling was fortunately gone. The other is I Will Drink your Blood and yes, at points it reminded me of our favorite Power Metal wolves. The closing We Come Alive does not just sound too Eurovision-y, it was in fact a competitor to become this year’s Norway representative, but did not make the cut even if it performed well.

All things considered, especially the huge gap I have with the Industrial genre, I liked Pandemonium II. You don’t have to experience it under a full moon and accompanied only by candle light to vibe with it. It is a very modern record that gracefully walks the line between catchiness and heaviness. It makes me wonder how Gothminister never crossed my path before, but this album ended up as the perfect introduction point for me. Unrelated to the music, their image and overall artistic presentation is true horror and I truly love it!

75/100

Pavlos Pavlakis

On behalf of Metal Domain