In metal, supergroups are usually either very good or very bad. It’s rare to find a supergroup that is mediocre, simply because it’s not often that a group of talented musicians come together and put out average songs. This is especially true in more extreme genres like death metal, black metal, and grindcore. Thus, the expectation for black metal supergroup Ov Hell – the brainchild of Dimmu Borgir vocalist Shagrath and God Seed/ex-Gorgoroth bassist King – was that they would be either extremely enjoyable or disappointing. However, debut album The Underworld Regime – which also features Enslaved guitarist Ice Dale, ex-Gorgoroth guitarist Teloch, and Satyricon/1349 drummer Frost – is the rare supergroup album that is just plain mediocre.
