Gorguts — Pleiades Dust
My initial listen to this release left me feeling strongly that it was the best thing the band had ever written. Prior to this, my favorite was the concise, tastefully odd chunk of death metal that was "The Erosion of Sanity". Luc Lemay has generally held Gorguts' songwriting to a very high standard over the years, his riffs consistently brimming with detail, complex dissonant chord shapes and haunted atonal harmonies. Every album was undoubtedly filled with great guitar work and brilliant moments, but some didn't necessarily cohere into something listenable as a whole.
Considered by many to be their masterwork, "Obscura" was an exhausting, relentlessly abrasive 70 minutes, more enjoyable to me in small pieces, as it seemed to be comprised of numerous permutations of an idea, without much of a larger dramatic arc or destination in mind. "From Wisdom to Hate" and especially "Colored Sands" had a greater sense of dynamism, incorporating clean tones and slowly unfolding ethereal post metal leads, but also took a step towards the pretentious with tracks like the ridiculous "The Battle of Chamdo", an orchestral piece which seemed devoid of Luc Lemay's compositional style, sounding more like an excerpt from the soundtrack of a family-oriented pirate movie.
With "Pleiades' Dust", the band truly finds a perfect narrative pacing, reaching a level of restraint and control I would compare to Neurosis. Though it is not slow paced as 'post metal' would typically be, its epic scope and through composed, non-repetitious style create a similar sense of moving steadily toward a destination. Listening to the first minute of this album will undoubtedly result in me sitting to the entire 33 minutes, transfixed.
There is a thick, anticipatory tension to the entire recording, a sense of dread that builds uncontrollably even as the music slows and strays further from conventional death metal brutality. In spirit and pained melancholic tonality, it is a romantic symphony, the modern successor to the monolithic emotional rollercoasters of Brahms and Mahler, similarly striving for sheer physical massiveness and striking emotional intensity, illustrating the struggle of life against the unfeeling hugeness of inanimate nature. This is not a reassuring piece of music, invoking formidable cosmic forces, but its catharsis is genuine.
About halfway through, there's something of a dark ambient interlude, a snaking e-bow tone murmuring swells of ashy distortion, far preferable to an obligatory and cheesy piece of cliched fantasy soundtrack music. This signifies the beginning of 'side B', and the commencement of the crushing build that closes the piece. . I am not sure what to say about the ending, but it is astonishing.
My words fail to adequately sum the music here. There are countless details to be discerned in this labyrinthine masterwork. "Pleiades' Dust" is likely Gorguts' finest hour, and certainly their finest song, ironically their most concise 33 minutes. Suffice to say, if you like Gorguts, you'll find plenty of brain food here, and it will be particularly if you've a taste for dramatic, lengthy and symphonic compositions.