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Class 6(66)
Gorguts: The erosion of sanity
13/08/08 || The Duff
Released: 1993
Introduction
Gorguts have by some been referred to as “the poor-man’s Suffocation”, by others as better than the New York legends, saddened by the band’s inability to break it through to the big leagues due to being hit hardest by Road Runner’s jettisoning of its entire roster of death-metal affiliated signings. Soon after the release of “The Erosion of Sanity”, 75% of Gorguts quit the band, leaving founder Luc Lemay with one of the underground’s most technical, shining albums with no one behind him to help promote it. It’s a sad world when an album this brilliant comes around yet does little to booster a band as talented as Gorguts into the folds of death metal’s most elite bands, yet many still recognize this as the classic that has yet to receive the acclaim it deserves.
Songwriting
8. It is true that Luc Lemay could never write compositions as fluid or as complex as his band would most closely be associated with, but at the same time, there is a degree of musical prowess that often eludes the traditional Suffocation fan into death metal for brutality alone. To think that Luc had only been playing guitar some 5-odd years before releasing this is most shocking, as some of the leads are so masterfully wrought, with spot-on phrasing, emulating more legendary Chuck Schuldiner than the more chaotic veterans Terrance Hobbs/Doug Cerrito and Trey Azagthoth, combined with music exhibiting a degree of discipline and understanding of what makes a song work that would suggest someone who had been working at his craft for at least twice the time it took Luc to reach such a standard.
Before writing for this album, Luc had met up with Suffocation during the writing period of “Breeding the Spawn” and also drawn a lot of inspiration from arguably two of death metal’s most influential albums – Death’s “Human” and Suffocation’s “Effigy of the Forgotten”. All of this had a profound effect on Gorguts’ sound, which by this album had speeded up dramatically (quite a necessary transition, in my mind), become heavier and more complex both in style and arrangements, and had generally been made far darker in a more intelligent sense (indicative of where they would take things so professionally on the two follow-up albums before disbanding for good).
Production
7. Clear in terms of making out the instruments, gritty in terms of leaving things necessarily unpolished. The leads sound sweet, as do the drums, and my only complaint is that the bass sounds much better on the demo tracks.
Guitars
8. As mentioned, Luc Lemay hadn’t been playing guitar for too long when this album was released – although the degree of Luc’s playing on “Considered Dead” would startle many considering the few years he had been practicing, the progress he had made in the two years between “The Erosion of Sanity” and the bands 1991 debut is heard only in the truly gifted.
Vocals
8. Okay, Luc Lemay isn’t a fantastic vocalist by a long stretch, but he sounds very tortured – on later albums, it wouldn’t suit the music quite so much, possibly because of the production, but such is doubtful; on “The Erosion of Sanity”, Luc’s strained vocals fit very nicely.
Bass
7. The bass on this album was not typical to what the Canadian scene would later adopt, Eric Guigere’s parts siding more with “Pierced From Within”-era Suffocation, just without the technicality. I think the bass lines on “The Erosion of Sanity” are suitable for what they are, but they are probably the weakest part to the album, and that’s including the vocals. With the re-release, the demo tracks do the bass-playing a lot more justice, and some of the winding passages strike out a lot more.
Drums
8. Stephane Provencher is quite a subdued player, very rarely blasting, adding convenient, flashy fills where necessary but otherwise playing solely to suit the song. I’m being a bitch giving him an eight, considering I gave Bill Andrews (of Death fame) a full score, but suffice to say the guy is class through and through, just not as impressive as contemporaries Mike Smith or Pete Sandoval.
Lyrics
6. “Considered Dead” had some very obvious, run-of-the-mill death metal lyrics. On “The Erosion of Sanity”, most would agree the philosophical/ambiguous lyrics are a vast improvement, but I’m still not bowled over for six chix with dix. That’s funny, cos “dix” in French means ten, so it’s like I’m forming a sentence that follows the GD method of scoring. And I gave the lyrics a score of six. So? Yeah, not unlike Suffocation lyrics – not Christ-hating, so I’ll just take Luc’s word for orphan suffering and the decline into madness as being true, ‘cos he seems like a sound enough fella. Some sentences do strike out at me, but I think for the most part this is due to the vocals.
Cover art
8. Done by the legendary Dan Seagrave, who seems to run similar themes throughout multiple pieces of work. Here, there is a likeness to his “Effigy of the Forgotten” artwork, combined with a certain H. R. Giger inspiration – can’t say that I prefer it over the classic 1992 masterpiece (artwork aside, though), but the colours really agree with me – not many can pull off bright orange convincingly, but this has far more a successful futuristic feel than the man’s earlier classic piece.
Logo
9. Slightly vaginal? Aw yeah, boiye! The “G” and the “S” could definitely scroll on down to form that sweeter than honey sugar-cleft. Also very gnarly, symbolizing the wiry pubes that cut up your lips and gums. Cryptopsy would closely follow the design, and although this may be out of admiration, it is an obvious example of plagiarism. Speaking of vagina-art, the new Metallica sure isn’t an asshole – an oblong asshole doesn’t exist unless you’ve been more than “slightly experimental”.
Booklet
5. Backdrops are all the cover art; you got lyrics, a nice introduction from Dellon Miller, a nicer foreword from Luc Lemay, and a band pic. Words from Dellon and Luc are both exclusive to the re-issue, so I’m guessing the original scores about a four. Dunno what more I require from a booklet other than what’s on offer, but I’m unmoved for some reason.
Overall and ending rant
9. If this was a real classic for the band, it would undoubtedly attain a perfect score, but due to some overshadowing from Suffocation, who unfortunately just wrote better, more complex death metal, as well as the fact that Gorguts only truly perfected their sound and became entirely unique with “Obscura” and “From Wisdom to Hate”, all makes this slightly less hard-hitting than other classic albums of its time.
