Review by JD on August 3, 2015.

I have listened to many various forms of metal over many years but none has struck me more as the whole gothic metal style has for perfecting a mood on an album. It sounds so much like many types of metal yet clearly has this dark and unyielding foreboding vibe that even some of the more heavier doom never seems to reach.

From the mountains of Whales, comes a gothic metal blitzkrieg called Tor Marrock. Melodic as anything and yet still heavy enough to crack bedrock deep in our worlds crust this band combines the best of gothic metal with stone breaking doom and blood laced death to emerge with an original sound that is hard to even attempt to ignore.

I found myself sitting in awe listening to songs like the infectious heaviness of "Born in Blood", while then doom laden "Christ Betrayed" left me haunted by the brutality. The world of pure pain, the killing of deities and sheer bleakness all blend seamlessly into a tale that only then unfortunate could handle. This may not be a concept album, but it could be as it is all set in a world that the living fights to not see- or those pitiful mortals are too fragile to comprehend in the first place.

Gothic metal is metal no matter what anyone says, but it is way more as well and Tor Marrock seems to have not only quantified the term right down to the very description of it. This band has released the masterpiece to explain what this sub-genre is all about. Most metal fans might be intrigued with the CD, but some will sadly never give it even a slam chance. I am one that loved the album.

Rating: 9 out of 10