If you know nearly anything about black metal, you know about Gaahl: That's the sunken-cheek frontman of infamous and inconsistent Second Wave crew Gorgoroth in the 12-page spread of Peter Beste's coffee table-bound collection of photos, True Norwegian Black Metal. And that's Gaahl leading the book's same team up a snow-covered mountain to visit the home of his forefathers in the subsequent Vice documentary of the same name. The crew worried that the towering and reserved singer was leading them to their demise-- a somewhat reasonable concern, as he'd rather recently been convicted of beating an older man while telling him he intended to turn his figure into a human sacrifice. And a year before the sentence, Polish authorities nearly jailed "the most evil man alive" for a Gorgoroth concert that included butchered animal parts and nude women suspended from crosses. And yes, Gaahl is the first openly gay frontman of a black metal act. Memorable enough?

But neither Gaahl nor longtime bassist King ov Hell (his real name is Tom, if that makes you more comfortable) has been in Gorgoroth since late 2007. In fact, in 2009, the pair lost a big-deal lawsuit to Infernus, Gorgoroth's founder, for the rights to the band and brand. God Seed-- Gaahl, King, and a minor-star team of two guitarists, a drummer, and electronics guru Geir Bratland-- is the result of that legal defeat. "God Seed represents the will to grow, the will to be the super man so to speak," Gaahl said of the somewhat laughable handle (and Gorgoroth song title) in 2009. "I think it's a suitable name for what we will represent in the future."

Indeed, if growth is the goal, God Seed squarely accomplish the aim on their proper studio debut, I Begin. Apart from the controversies and stories you might have heard about Gaahl both in and out of corpse paint, he leads an expansive, able genuinely interesting retreatment of the primal stuff that made Gorgoroth matter here. Opener "Awake" rumbles open with true Norwegian ferocity, drums cascading by riffs written in miniature and projected in panoramic. But relentlessness isn't the chief asset or aim of God Seed, so "Awake" consistently zigs and zags, shifting tempos and temperaments enough to plow beyond any ensconced Gorgoroth rut. Organ solos intersect with electronic washes, and Gaahl-- never the most versatile man in metal-- shifts from a blood-curdling scream to a fist-pumping bark at will.

At least at the start, "The Wound" is as savage as anything its predecessor attempted during the last decade, but its circumspect nods to stoner metal and krautrock offer new gumption. During "Alt Liv", God Seed occasionally downshift into ritualistic throb, with Gaahl delivering sinister invocations alongside King ov Hell's throbbing bass. Though those segments sometimes border on Godsmack-style tribalism, they do position God Seed well outside of Second Wave confines. Closer "Bloodline" flirts with the same industrial deconstructions as Blut Aus Nord and Ben Frost, its melody and beat reflected and refracted by broken bits of sound. No, these three-to-five-minute tracks don't claim to be Enslaved epics or the philosophical revisions of some stateside black metal acts. But when Gaahl rasps in a near-whisper or when the keyboards lope with the esprit of a carnival ride during "Aldrande Tre", God Seed’s push beyond the comfortable becomes as exciting as it does obvious.

In many ways, God Seed emerge from an enviable and lamentable position: They possess a pedigree that, to many, makes them matter instantly-- and a strange, long face that makes them singularly recognizable. But quality control was never a Gorgoroth talking point, and some will be prone to dismiss God Seed simply because of Gaahl and King's tenure in that band. Gaahl's backstory and rather paradoxical views as a gay black metal bandleader who has both expressed support for fascists and seemed rather approachable give him a sort of freak-show status, too. But turning back just to the nine tracks of I Begin, God Seed sound like a native Norwegian act reinvigorated by these new circumstances. It would be a stretch to call I Begin a breakthrough for a fresh quinet; it would be dismissive to not consider it perhaps as the start of one.