Gorguts — From Wisdom to Hate
From Wisdom to Hate appeared in 2001, three years after Gorguts daring- at times demented technical/avant-garde death metal masterpiece Obscura. And while the eight-track album wasn’t quite as brutally mind-melting- it melds the sound of Obscura, with the band's first two more formally focused DM albums- for a more easily consumable/ less sanity-twisting ride. Here from MDD Records is a new CD reissue of the album.
The CD is presented in a four-panel digipak- with it's colour scheme being a murky mix of black, dark reds, and greys. It features a fold-out mini poster/ lyric sheet- which on the text side takes in a fairly lengthy write-up about the album/ period in the bands history by long-term guitarist/ vocalist Luc Lemay.
The eight-track album was recorded in June of 2000- with the line-up being Luc Lemay – guitars & vocals. Daniel Mongrain – lead guitar. Steve Cloutier – bass guitar. Steve MacDonald – drums-this was the drummer's one & only album with band. Also, there was a twelve-year gap between this and the band's next album Coloured Sands.
The album opens with the track “Inverted” which kicks off with a frantic bass chug meets squeaking mechanical arm-like riff. As we move on the rapidly growled vocals are joined by a gallop eastern-tinged riff. Along the tracks length we get a nice slowed to mid-paced breakdown- which seesaws between atmospheric and discordant. And of course a shift back to speeding heights again.
We have galloping to smarting percussion meets mid-paced dart ‘n’ chug of “From Wisdom To Hate” which again has some wonderful moments of jarring ended riff discord with its more classic DM tendencies. There’s the frantic stop/ start to malevolent swirling almost grinding chugg of “Unearthing The Past” which features a great breakdown with a neat pitch bending & heavy riff.
The album plays out with the instrumental track “Testimonial Ruins” which is largely built around a riff that suddenly switches between moody tolling & lightly bucking- giving the sensation of pace, churning awkwardness, and mid-pace bounding slug.
It’s nice to see Wisdom to Hate getting this reissue from MDD Records. If you're looking for the place between formal death metal craft, and more jagging discordant/avant-garde examples of the genre this certainly itches that itch.