Gorguts — Colored Sands

Technical death metal legends, Gorguts, are back after a twelve year hiatus. After some tragedy, the band broke up in 2005, but reformed a few years later for their twentieth anniversary. No stranger to line up changes, this iteration of Gorguts features Luc Lemay (y'know, MR. GORGUTS) on vocals/guitars, Colin Marston and Kevin Hufnagel of Dysrhythmia on bass and guitar, respectively, and John Longstreath of Origin on drums. With a roster full of musicians well versed in technicality and hailing from well respected technical bands, the return of Gorguts was in very capable hands. However, fans have had a lot of quality metal released since 2001, so can Gorguts still give 'em what they want?

The short answer: Yes. The long answer: Hell Yes! Colored Sands may not be a typical Gorguts album, but there really is no "typical Gorguts album." Over the course of twenty years, Luc has shown the world that, no matter how many years pass between releases, returning to the safety of a previous form just isn't going to happen. They released Erosion of Sanity in '93, and shortly after, death metal (well, metal in general) kinda took a nosedive. Bands soldiered on, worked on their chops, and kept it brutal. Technicality was taking hold, and the scene was getting back on its feet. What better time to put out the tech/prog opus, Obscura. While it was far too much for me at the time (I wanted my death straight forward and brutal and my noise harsh and chaotic), it was very well received by the rest of the community, and showed that Gorguts was more than just well played brutality.

So, here we are now with the much anticipated return from Luc Lemay. Colored Sands is a very full and interesting album. It has brutal death metal moments, technical wizardry, and slow, almost soft sections peppered throughout. While albums in their past may have leaned fully in one direction or another, Colored Sands blends all the elements together seamlessly and the songs work to form a complex and completely engrossing album. Part of the joy of Gorguts comes from the dissonant guitarwork. The clashing of notes adds an uneasiness to well thought out and executed riffing. Hearing it alongside a thick, chugging bass while pounding drums churn makes one feel like they're in some hopelessly failing machine with no happy end in sight. Since we're there, the bass and drums on this album are top notch, too. Whether tight and chugging or loose, fat, and gross, the bass adds a tremendous amount of depth to Colored Sands. Keeping the pace is John Longstreath on drums. Unlike most current death metal albums, the double bass is used appropriately and in the right amounts. John has no problem bringing the whole kit up to top speed when needed, but he's probably more impressive with his spot on timing and restraint.

That seems to be the underlying theme of Colored Sands: restraint. That's not to say that there isn't any brutal or blistering metal here ("Reduced to Silence" is a beast), just that it's served up in smaller, less often than expected servings. The typical death metal blasting pieces are substituted for with slow, dissonant breakdowns. There are soft, sparse delayed guitar interludes (so to speak) between nice mid paced death. Lacking the technical jargon, let me just say, "it's wicked good."

One of the most interesting and almost out of place songs on the album is the instrumental, "The Battle of Chamdo." This one is violins, cello, and bass. It's really nice and all, but sounds like Danny Elfman doing a Hitchcock score. At first listen, it sounds very out of place on the album, but after numerous spins, it makes sense. It's the middle of the parabola, the furthest from either end. While that may just be hogwash, it works for me.

Gorguts is back and is still kicking ass. There's speed, beauty, sludge, dissonance, growls, and violins. There's not much to say other than "check this album out!" You won't be disappointed.