Gorguts - Pleiades' Dust EP review
Gorguts - Pleiades' Dust EP review
Gorguts (Montreal, Canada)
Genre: Technical death metal
Album: Pleiades' Dust (EP)
Release Date: May the 13th 2016
Record Label: Season of Mist
After a magnificent comeback with Colored Sands, it was clear as a day that Gorguts is doing more than fine with a completely new lineup. The band of such a caliber just can't fail. Just like a snake leaving its skin, Luc Lemay manages to bring something new with every record he makes. Once again, Gorguts have set an indelible mark on death metal music. The long awaited Pleiades' Dust is about to be released! I even had a chance to hear the whole thing in Budapest few weeks ago. And that was quite a unique expirience. From what I've heard, the whole thing sounds even better live. It's incredible to see how well rehearsed the band really is!
This time, Luc Lemay wanted to make a one-song EP. Pleiades' Dust is miles away from its predecessor, Colored Sands, even though it contains some elements of the aforementioned album . The whole thing is divided into 4 movements.The composition itself starts slow, with riffs that will welcome you to the Testimonial Ruins. A mesmerizing chord proggression that follows is just a glimpse of mysticism omnipresent on this record. And above all, I really like what those noisy riffs do to my brain! Kevin's wicked solo clears the path to a space-like journey of intricate riffage and drumming. As your jaw had already dropped, Kevin sets his frets on fire for the second time. Luc kinda ripped himself off in the next riff which irresistably reminds of Inverted and that is no bad thing at all! Death metal parts are pretty intense! It is good to add that the man behind the drum kit on this record is Patrice Hamelin (Quo Vadis, ex-Martyr) And he definitely knows what he's doing! No matter how sick and dissonant Luc's riffs are, Patrice covers them with amazing blast-beats and crazy drum rolls.
After a short break, one of the most beautiful clean parts on this record occur - it is amazing to hear how every member of the band plays his part separately and then all the sudden fuse into a death metal storm. And with no doubt, it seems like Luc gave more freedom to the rest of the band when compared to the previous record, Colored Sands. In general, the structure of this masterpiece is wider and more open to improvisations with tons of oscillations. When speaking of Colin's bass sound, it always reminded me of an insect from the outer space of some sorts. And the moment you hear it, you'll know that Colin produced this stuff.
One of the most surprising moments in Pleiades' Dust is the drone part. Delayed guitars and bass in a Sunn O))) manner is probably the spookiest part of this tune. I remember how cool it sounded a few weeks ago in Budapest - you could actually hear the pick strums before the wave of sound pierces your body... that was metal as fuck! And then slow riff kicks in - from this point onward, the song gets even darker in a way of Reduced to Ash/Absconders. And then, the sonic rape occurs - it may sound crazy, but things start to get even more crazier, more dissonant, more brutal and above all, more death metal. Avant-garde parts are as wicked as Massacre's Killing Time. And these pure noise Steve Hurdle-like riffs just made my day!
In terms of lyrics, Luc couldn't pick more controversal theme up to date -the whole Pleiades' Dust EP deals with the age of medieval Abbasid Caliphate of Baghdad in a way that is exact the opposite of S.O.D.'s Fuck The Middle East. In an interview for Agoraphobic News, Luc explained in dept concept of Pleiades' Dust and stated that not every Muslim should be stigmatized as a terrorist (you can hear the whole thing Here or in the link below) And above all, I suggest the readers to watch a truly shocking documentary - Heavy Metal in Baghdad before saying anything stupid.
The awesomeness of Gorguts' Pleiades' Dust is out of the question. Their latest EP is like beer, the more you drink it, the more you like it. And what matters the most, Gorguts has never done the same thing twice, unlike the vast majority of the death metal bands who never managed to get out of their stinky shell of genericness. Lest we forget that Pleiades' Dust is about to be released on May the 13th, the day when Chuck Schuldiner died. According to this good omen, death metal music will be alive and well for at least another 500 years or so, and the mastery of almighty Gorguts will echo in eternity, until the end of time!
Rating: Over 9000/10
