gorguts - the erosion of sanity

when listenable records from france re-issued "considered dead" first in 2016, they also did a re-issue of gorguts second effort "the erosion of sanity", originally released in 1993. strangely the album was never pressed to vinyl before. i have a few roadrunner releases on vinyl which came out in the same year or even later. it remains a mystery to me why the label refused the production of a vinyl version.

so the 2016 edition was technically speaking a first press and this makes my copy part of the second press. actually it is just a re-press of a re-issue. fuck all that anyway, what counts is listening to the music on vinyl. and musically gorguts delivers heaps of typical early nineties death metal with a strong american tinge. "the erosion of sanity" is more diverse than its predecessor and sometimes the beginning progressivity shines through.

although i have to say the record has its lengths. it is not always able to keep my attention up and at this point i prefer "considered dead" over this full length. the presentation by listenable is cool, though. great transfer of the cover art into the lp format, sturdy insert and slightly marbled orange vinyl to round out the package. funnily the hype sticker advertises it as splatter vinyl. come on, really cannot see this. 500 copies made. listenable records. 2018.

gorguts - considered dead

gorguts became one of my most respected bands since i have their masterpiece "obscura" in my collection. the works of the band are never easily digested but so rich in detail and sophisticated musicianship, that a gorguts record will always be a pleasure for the ears. i own all their post-"obscura" records and couldn't decide which one might be better. "from wisdom to hate", "colored sands" and "pleiades' dust" are proof of the uniqueness of this canadian prog death monster around band leader luc lemay.

but there is also a pre-"obscura" era. a period in the early nineties where gorguts were part of a flourishing scene which chose to call their music death metal. a time where bands like death, obituary, deicide or suffocation were releasing milestones of the genre. right into this time frame, maybe when the death metal hype peaked, gorguts released their debut "considered dead". they even got a record deal with roadrunner records, the label all the aforementioned bands released their stuff on.

i don't how the album was recieved back then but when i am listening to this re-issue now, i assume it was quite successful. it ticks all the right boxes for a death metal fan of the time. it is a solid effort which doesn't show any hints of the brilliancy to come, though. still, i really enjoy it. the presentation by listenable does the original justice. only the back of the sleeve got a work-over that ties in with original very well. i love the cover art by dan seagrave here. 500 copies on clear blue with black smoke vinyl. listenable records. 2018.

gorguts - colored sands

"colored sands" was the comeback album the band released in 2013. actually creative mastermind luc lemay brought gorguts back in 2008 already but the album took another five years to finally surface. for this release the band collaborated with french label season of mist records for the first time. the wait for "colored sands" was definitely worth it. the record is a demonstration of masterful musical and lyrical skills. gorguts left nothing to chance, every note is the result of a sophisticated masterplan and is distinctively gorguts.

the concept for the album is based on the tibetian culture and history. the album title refers to sand mandalas of the tibetian buddhistic believe. they serve as support for meditation and have a positive affect against the poisons of the mind - hate, greed and delusion. these mandalas are drawn with coloured sand and destroyed after use as a sign for evanescence. the first four songs deal with the culture, topography and geography of the country.

with the orchestral piece "the battle of chamdo" the topic of the last four songs is ringed in. those deal with the chinese invasion in 1950 and its consequences down to the present day. the whole concept is such a strong take on a topic which is to my knlowledge not very common in today's metal and therefore so informative and unique. musically the album is the consequent evolution to "obscura" and a strong follow-up to "from wisdom to hate". luc lemay wanted to create a new musical language with his music and i think he and his band accomplished it completely.

their stuff is so different in thinking and acting from your next best metal band, there is no denying that gorguts are on top of a progressive force in death metal which raised the bar for years to come. considering this i am embarrassingly late to the party. fortunately season of mist re-pressed the album a couple of times with this transparent sand colour out of 250 copies being the latest press from last year. it was still available at high roller records store and so i grabbed myself a copy. season of mist records. 2013/2016.

gorguts - pleiades' dust

gorguts were a little surprise to me last year. a band that is around since the late eighties and their considered masterpiece "obscura" was written in the mid nineties, were just brought into my focus last year. i bought their re-issues of said "obscura" album and the follow-up "from wisdom to hate" on century media and then my interest drifted onto other things. lately i listened to my gorguts records again and thought it was time to get the latest stuff from the return after their second break-up consequent upon the suicide of drummer steve macdonald in 2002.

in 2008 the band or better luc lemay, guitarist, voclist and mastermind behind gorguts' compositions, started working on a few demo tracks. due to some legal issues with century media which took over olympic records, the label which gorguts released their last two records with, and long recording process, the fifth full length "colored sands" saw the light of day in 2013 and "pleiades' dust" in 2016 eventually. the wait was worth it. the band is still complex and challenging but that is just the way you want your gorguts album. what is more stunning to me is the atmosphere they create.

the e.p. that contains of one coherent song. the lyrical concept is based on the house of wisdom in baghdad and it seperates the piece into seven sections. the house of wisdom was founded in 825 and was some sort academy where arabic scholars translated and provided scientific scripts from the ancient world. next to the translation department the house of wisdom also contained a hospital, a libary and an observatory. in 1258 the house was destroyed by the mongolians who conquered baghdad. all these elements can be found in the fantastic artwork by zbigniew m. bielak from poland. 500 copies on orange vinyl. season of mist records. 2016.

gorguts - from wisdom to hate

when i ordered the superb "obscura" from gorguts, i saw that century media also had copies of the re-press of the band's fourth full length "from wisdom to hate" from 2001 in stock. again the limited colour version. with this opportunity in front of me i gave it a quick listen over at the tube and wrapped it up as well. that these two were still available, even though the re-pressings are one year old by now, shows me that this band is fairly underrated. at least these two releases.

a shame in a way but real good for me. it means that my ignorance will not be punished by high second hand market prices. i didn't listen to "from wisdom to hate" as much as it deserved because i am quite occupied with "obscura", but what i can hear from the few spins, the album is a bit easier to comprehend. still complex but with more emphasis on atmosphere. again, the band couldn't remain in a steady line-up. most notable was the change on the drum-kit.

steve macdonald was the new drummer. he suffered from recurrent depressions and committed suicide in 2002. after this tragic incident the band called it quits in 2005. they would re-unite and return with a new record in 2013, but that will be another story. for this re-press century media pressed some 180gr silver vinyl out of 200 copies. the platter is housed in a slip sleeve with an printed dust sleeve and comes with a cd of the album. the dust sleeve contains interesting liner notes by mastermind luc lemay himself. a great package all around. century media. 2015.

gorguts - obscura

i pretty much didn't know anything about gorguts half a year ago. i learned about this canadian band when i was getting my first obscura album "akróasis". this german tech death band named itself after the third record of gorguts. in the process of listening a lot to the band obscura, i wanted to check the name giver as well. when i listened to the album "obscura" for the first time i found it too confusing. it didn't click with me and so it vanished from my focus.

two weeks ago i was on the hunt for some atheist vinyl, of which a copy will hopefully show up in the coming days, and i was killing some time on the tube listening to said band. in the next video side bar there was an icon showing gorguts' "obscura" cover and just to see if i might change my mind about the record, i gave it another chance. well, i did change my mind. especially when i read about the status of this release within the genre. it is widely considered to be one of the most influential records of the technical death metal genre and beyond.

to my big advantage century media did a re-press of "obscura" last year and still had copies in stock. the album actually didn't get the vinyl treatment in the first place in 1998 by olympic records. not until 2012 when war on music records from canada gave the world a vinyl version. so this is the second press, so to speak. i listened to "obscura" a handful of times by now and it's fascinating. it grows on me more everytime i spin it. it's definitely challenging and always hard on the edge of being too dissonant.

but the next second another break with some weird melodies or time signatures sets in and eases the complexity. "obscura" demands a lot of attention from the listener but it gives back pure art in equal measures. i always thought that the guy doing meditation on the cover had the head of a pig. from small pics on the net it looked a bit like that and i thought that was quite obscure and therefore matching the title. it's actually just an old, bearded man, haha. looks lovely on mint green vinyl (my cam makes them look a bit blue somehow). 200 copies made. century media. 2015.