By Andrew Bansal
Canadian technical death metal band Gorguts started out in 1989 and then disbanded in 2005, but ended their hiatus and reformed in 2008. Since then, they’ve been touring and writing new material, which finally resulted in the release of their long-awaited fifth studio album ‘Colored Sands’, which came out via Season Of Mist Records earlier this year. Their first since the 2001 effort ‘From Wisdom To Hate’, this was a hugely hyped album in the extreme metal community, and the band had a lot to live up to. It’s fair to say that guitarist, vocalist and principal songwriter Luc Lemay has come up with some of his best, if not the best work through this 9-track, hour-long epic. The manner in which he has laid down dark, dissonant guitar melodies is this album’s most outstanding feature and gives it a strong degree of expressiveness. ‘Le Toit Du Monde’ starts things off on a very ominous note and that feeling is maintained throughout the album. This is Gorguts’ most progressive and diverse set of tunes till date, so the 7 to 9-minute lengths of some of these tunes is perfectly justified and doesn’t feel overdone. Besides the heavier material which certainly goes down well amongst extreme metal fans, the classical piece ‘The Battle Of Chamdo’ is a real gem in itself and showcases Gorguts as a band with a greater depth in musicianship in comparison to most of their peers in the extreme metal sub-genre. This composition appropriately forms the centerpiece of the album and as a result, catapults its second half with a force that feels greater than what it would have, sans the classical piece. With fantastically composed songs like ‘Enemies Of Compassion’, ‘Absconders’ and ‘Return To Silence’, Colored Sands draws to a close and leaves the extreme metal lover satiated. Gorguts’ latest album is a masterpiece in its own right.
Track Listing:
01. Le Toit Du Monde
02. An Ocean Of Wisdom
03. Forgotten Arrows
04. Colored Sands
05. The Battle Of Chamdo
06. Enemies Of Compassion
07. Ember’s Voice
08. Absconders
09. Reduced To Silence
Duration: 1 hour
Visit Gorguts on the web:
Gorguts.com
facebook.com/GorgutsOfficial
twitter.com/GorgutsOfficial
youtube.com/user/GorgutsOfficial
The countdown so far …
#50. Nails – Abandon All Life
#49. American Sharks – Self-Titled
#48. Hatebreed – The Divinity Of Purpose
#47. Helen Money – Arriving Angels
#46. Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats – Mind Control
#45. Ihsahn – Das Seelenbrechen
#44. Church Of Misery – Thy Kingdom Scum
#43. Wolvserpent – Perigaea Antahkarana
#42 . Djinn And Miskatonic – Forever In The Realm
#41. Czar – No One Is Alone If No One Is Alive
#40. Against The Grain – Surrounded By Snakes
#39. Nekrofilth – Devil’s Breath
#38. Kylesa – Ultraviolet
#37. The Devil’s Blood – III: Tabula Rasa or Death and the Seven Pillars
#36. Kadavar – Abra Kadavar
#35. Purson – The Circle And The Blue Door
#34. Carousel – Jeweler’s Daughter
#33. Kvelertak – Meir
#32. SpiralArms – Freedom
#31. Satan – Life Sentence
#30. Exhumed – Necrocracy
#29. Havok – Unnatural Selection
#28. Mothership – Self-Titled
#27. UDO – Steelhammer
#26. Ramming Speed – Doomed To Destroy, Destined To Die
#25. Revocation – Self-Titled
#24. Gorguts – Colored Sands
Check out #23 here.