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Gorguts: From wisdom to hate

14/07/08 || The Duff

I ignored this band because I heard they were a poor man’s Suffocation, a damn shame considering just how important its first two albums were to the scene. To make matters worse, upon discovering said albums and realizing the error of my ways, I was advised to stay away from this effort as it was considered a disappointing affair. “Obscura” is too tough to locate at a reasonable price anywhere in the UK, so I figured I’d bight the bullet and check out “From Wisdom to Hate” simply because I couldn’t wait a month or so for this album’s predecessor to be available with a trip over to the U.S. Once more I’ve been led astray by people who don’t know quality music when they hear it, possibly the same people who would skip the chance to make the love with Jenna Jameson’s vagina because it’s “too stringy” – curse them.

One thing that struck me with Gorguts’ first two outputs was that, although not as technical as efforts from label mates Suffocation, main songwriter Luc Lemay created music that consisted more of a dark nature and was far more musically inclined than the New York masters. “From Wisdom to Hate” takes this idea and expands upon it to the point where it wouldn’t be wrong to liken this incarnation of the band to the blackness of classic Immolation, combined with the technicality of Suffocation (by this point Luc Lemay had made the progress as a guitar player from gifted to truly exceptional), but with arrangements of something far more profound.

Teamed up with current Canadian tech death band Martyr guitarist, Daniel Mongrain, most of the album is very slow-paced, even by Gorguts’ standards with an album such as “Considered Dead”, but the music has been very cleverly crafted; with little bits and pieces thrown in between the main, repeated riffs, plus ongoing time-changes and a very competent drummer (who committed suicide shortly after the album’s release), the listener is assured never to lose interest unless the music isn’t to his or her liking, but like I said, this is one of the few bands who carry the dark, brooding atmosphere of which I thought only Immolation to be experts, so yeah, something’s wrong with you if you don’t dig this.

Style-wise, this has been compared with the first two albums mixed in with the atonal mind-fuckery of “Obscura”, but I don’t get much of an “Erosion of Sanity”-vibe, to be honest; this is far from traditional death metal, and the only likeness I find with “Considered Dead” is the pace of the album – otherwise, the guitars rarely converge to play the same thing, but instead weave around each other with a mixture of odd rhythms, dark chords, absolutely perfect soloing and occasional ferocity, all to accentuate the very morose feel which this album embodies.

On top of it all, the production isn’t at all beefed up, and very little gain has been used, so every aspect of the music shines through with great clarity. My one complaint is that Luc Lemay, although very tortured-sounding, has never been a great death metal vocalist, and so his very high placing in the mix can be too invasive. I can’t find anything else to dislike about this album, which was a fine point from which the members of Gorguts ended parting ways, and possibly more influential than people give it credit for. Anyone into forward-thinking, oppressive death metal should give this a spin, for it has certainly made me rethink my opinion on just how untouchable Immolation are as dark death metal masters.

8 stone trolls with a bow and arrow out of 10.

Information
Released: 2001
Label: Season Of Mist
Website: www.gorguts.com
Band
Luc Lemay: vocals, guitar
Daniel Mongrain: guitar
Steve Cloutier: bass
Steve Macdonald: drums

Tracklist
01. Inverted
02. Behave through mythos
03. From wisdom to hate
04. Quest for equilibrium
05. Unearthing the past
06. Elusive treasures
07. Martyrium des…
08. Testimonial ruins

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