Gutworm at Myspace

Gutworm mix the aggressive type of fast-paced sludge metal that the Northamptonshire area became famous for in the days of Raging Speedhorn and Scurge with relatively accessible extreme metal à la The Haunted, Strapping Young Lad, At the Gates and Gojira. The result is something that won’t tick any metal stereotype’s boxes. It’s too proletarian and uncool for the scene kids, far too heavy for mainstream metal fans, and too similar to Pantera in places for the extreme metal fans.

Gutworm are a band who will never find a niche, which is in their favour since they’re not pandering to the one crowd. But personally, I think ‘Disfigured Narcissus’ is a step backwards from ‘Ruin the Memory’. There’s less emphasis on their death metal elements, with a perfect example being ‘Imperfect Harmony’, sounding like Crowbar French-kissing Lamb of God. ..And not in a good way!

There’s no equivalent here to ‘What You Are’, the clear standout track of their debut, and as the record progresses you can tell whether part of a particular track is engaging by how metalcore it sounds. Gutworm can pull off sludgy, groovy death metal but I think they might have miscalculated by adding metalcore into their sound. This was never going to be an album that purist death metal fans would enjoy, but it even lacks that crispness and clarity that made ‘Ruin the Memory’ so good.

Monday, July 21st, 2008 @ 8:16 pm Core, Death Metal
RSS 2.0 Trackback