Despite this being the seventh album in total, with the appearance of ‘For Those Who Stay’, it is fair to speak of the “third album syndrome”. Often a lot falls or stands with the release of a third full-length album. With this third full-length album after the band’s second coming, all three released by Osmose Productions, we can start drawing a few conclusions. First, it is now safe to say that the Gorgon is back and here to stay. And besides, with this working pace, three albums in about five years, it is also equally safe to state that Christophe Chatelet has permanently regained his joy in making music again. But on a musical level we can also conclude that Chatelet has found his niche as well.
Not entirely comparable with the band’s early output, the last three records, ‘For Those Who Stay’ included, do sound very much alike. A sound that is strongly rooted in melodic and pacey Black Metal, roughly situated in between bands like later Necrophobic, current Mystic Circle, Cirith Gorgor, Lord Belial and Naglfar: aggressive and melodic. Basically like the previous ‘Traditio Satanae’ was a logical continuation of ‘The Veil Of Darkness’, so is ‘For Those Who Stay’ another extension of the preceding recordings. Yet with each of these steps the Gorgon-anno-now-formula is perfected and polished even more. At the same time there is zero innovation or originality to enjoy, so when picking up this record you should very well be aware of wrapping your head around something that you have heard at least 666 times before.
If that is something that bothers you, you should look elsewhere for your kicks. Yet, if you are in for a no-nonsense and rather smooth sounding ride that doesn’t require a whole lot from the listener, ‘For Those Who Stay’ is a pretty fitting choice. Since this may appear more negative than I intended, let me conclude with similar words I attributed to ‘Traditio Satanae’: no, this may not be a Black Metal highlight or a genre-defining album, but ‘For Those Who Stay’ too is an equally fine and even fun Black Metal record.
