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Gorefest: La muerte

07/11/05 || Lord K Philipson

When the band announced that the Fest was back, I smiled. I was always a fan of the band and even ordered some shirts from them back in the early 90’s. And if I order a shirt from a band, that means I dig them quite a bit. The only albums I don’t like with this band are “Mindloss” and “Soul Survivor”. But bring me “False”, “Erase” and “Chapter 13” any fucken given day and I’ll raise the horns to the Dutchmen. Alot of people think they started to go downhill with “Soul Survivor”, and I agree. But that was just one album, they restored alot of faith with “Chapter 13”, an album I accidentally ran into at a store at the time of its release. I had no idea they had that one out and bought it on the spot (after listening to one minute of it in the very store).

Then the band broke up.

And in appropriate fashion they are now back in 2005 with their strongest effort yet, “La Muerte” (yes, it means “horse” in German). Yes, I said that. This fucken piece even beats the classic “False” album, and I never thought that would happen (neither did anyone else).

“For the masses” opens this piece with a riff that grooves more than John Travolta in his glorious days. 30 seconds in we get the sound of old times and I love it. This tune could very well have been on “False”. There’s a fuck-load of groove, there’s some excellent blasts and JC is singing better than ever. An obvious opener for the album and definitely one of my fave-tracks by Gorefest, ever. 3:11 in, one of the catchiest riffs in a long time appears and my cock is entering unexpected lenghts.

“When the dead walk the earth” starts of with double-bass and trademark Gorefest-riffing. Not as impressive as the opener but still a groovy track.

“You could make me kill” is another one of those tunes that I got to hear quite early on thanx to guitarist Boudewijn and today’s Internet-technology. Here’s another of those absolute killer-songs. It’s heavier than Roseanne Barr in a Boeing 747, and that’s fucken heavy I tell you. The little black metal flirt in the chorus is excellent, and not anything Gorefest’s done in the past as far as I know. Impressive soloing (as always) to say the least. Solo’s are usually boring as fuck, but these guys know how to make them interesting. Awesome track.

“Malicious intent” speeds things up and there’s no room for breathing during the first 2 and a half minutes, then some 2 minutes of heavy-ass riffing and solos takes over before shit hits the fan again with another killer-riff and the awesome roars by JC to end the thing.

“Rogue state” is pummeling thru its seven minutes of length, leaving no head un-banged. At 5 minutes the blasts appears and I couldn’t be happier. It’s a joy to hear Ed blast away. Not one of my fave tracks but not bad in any shape, way or form.

“The call” gives me “Chapter 13” vibes. Actually, this whole album is like a mixture of “False” and the previously mentioned piece. The best of 2 worlds you could say. Pretty mid-paced tune with alot of groovy riffing all over the fucken place.

“Of death and chaos” starts of slow and sludgy before turning into double-bass and sledgehammer-riffing. Frank and Boud really got their fucken riffing-shit together and ends this tune with some sweet-assed soloing and harmonies. Those guys really loves to jack off them axes. And I dig listening to it.

“Exorcism” gives me some later Carcass-vibes here and there, which necessarily isn’t a bad thing. I’m not too big a fan of the chorus in this one though but the rest of the tune makes up for it. Mid-paced, rockish brutality at large.

“Man to fall” takes a nice turn after the first 21 seconds and I’m floored. Gorefest is in their prime when they pull off their fast stuff, and “Man to fall” is displaying just that (as is alot of other tunes by them, haha). At 1:34 one of my fave-riffs enters my speakers. So simple, yet so fucken effective I could fucken kill someone. I absolutely love it.

“The new gods” returns to Gorefest’s heavier and rockier moments and the verse-riff is fucken sweet. It reminds me of something but I can’t put my fucken finger on what exactly, but sweet as cunt it is. Another goodie.

“Till fingers bleed” could have been taken straight from “False”. I absolutely love Gorefest’s semi-fast parts and you get that in this one as well. I love how the hi-hat sounds in the break at 3 minutes-something. That’s rawness for you.

The titletrack “La Muerte” is instrumental and it’s almost 10 minutes long, and you all know I’m a fan of long songs. The trick with making long songs is to make them feel like 3 or 4 minutes. This is one of those tracks. The first 3 minutes of this track are bulldozer-like. And then some. After that comes one of the grooviest fucken riffs this side of the millenium. Crank this fucken part of the song as loud as you can and just sit back and enjoy the fucken ride. Absolutely fan-fucken-tastic shit. The “bridge” at 5 minutes gives me fucken chills… There’s not a single second in this tune that makes you lose attention to what’s happening. One of my fave-tracks by Gorefest, ever, and a monumental ending to the album.

Gorefest’s not just back, they are back with the best album in their career.

8.5 intestines out of 10.

Information
Released: 2005
Label: Nuclear Blast
Website: www.gorefest.nl
Band
Jan-Chris de Koeijer: vocals, bass
Frank Haarthorn: guitars
Boudewijn Bonebakker: guitars
Ed Warby: drums

Tracklist
01. For the masses
02. When the dead walk the earth
03. You could make me kill
04. Malicious intent
05. Rogue state
06. The call
07. Of death and chaos
08. Exorcism
09. Man to fall
10. The new gods
11. Till fingers bleed
12. La Muerte

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