Fuck the Facts - Amer

Review by Red.

Artwork by Mel Mongeon

If there's a takeaway from Fuck the Facts' new EP Amer, it's that these seven songs could easily be expanded into something even better.  Or they can remain as they are and just be awesome.  The EP runs for 17 minutes and there isn't really a dull moment included.

Mel Mongeon's familiar scream is joined by a lower-pitched death growl this time around.  I'm not sure if it was present on Die Miserable, their previous LP.  It's definitely welcome, as variety in the vocals never hurts.  Six of the seven tracks are in French, while the lone English track is a doomy little piece that could segue quite well into the band's slower, more contemplative material.

Photo by Distortionplus.

It sounds like the band is having fun here.  There is a vibrant quality to these tracks that is immediately audible.  And when the band is having fun or is excited by what they're playing (both of which are applicable here), the listener usually can't help but be taken along for the ride.  As reviewers and listeners, I think most of us underrate experience for the sake of concerning ourselves with innovation (or the lack thereof) when analyzing a piece of music.  Experience and professionalism serve Fuck the Facts quite well.

Are they reinventing the wheel?  Hardly.  Amer is enjoyable and that's the point of it all.

[Go to the post to view the Bandcamp player]

Gorguts - Colored Sands

Written by Justin C.

Artwork by Martin Lacroix

It's been a good year for comebacks. Byzantine and Misery Signals, just to name two, returned after 5-year hiatuses to deliver solid, crowd-funded new albums. But 5 years is really a drop in the bucket compared to Gorguts, who hasn't released a studio album since 2001's From Wisdom to Hate. With 12 years gone and only one original member, mastermind and vocalist Luc Lemay, what kind of beast do we get with Colored Sands?

From Maryland Deathfest VIII. Photo by Distortionplus.

First, check out the new line up, none of whom are musical slouches: Colin Marston (Krallice and Dysrhythmia) handles the bass, Kevin Hufnagel (Dysrhythmia, Vaura) plays guitar, and John Longstreth (Origin, Dim Mak, and many others) is on drums. One could reasonably wonder if this new album would just be Dysrhythmia with vocals added, but there's no denying the sonic similarities between From Wisdom to Hate and Colored Sands, in spite of the 12-year gap. I think that's a testament both to Luc Lemay's vision and his new bandmates' respect for what's already been achieved. That core Gorguttian sound is here in spades: The musicians are comfortable with dissonance in the same way most musicians are comfortable with a C major scale, the rhythms are complex and ever-shifting, and song structures are anything but run of the mill.

From Maryland Deathfest VIII. Photo by Metal Chris.

Those elements were fully present in their past albums, but that's not to say there's been no evolution. This album sounds lush in a way that I don't hear in their previous work. That's probably in part to the excellent production, but I think it's also a function of the song writing. Check out the chiming, eerie guitar lines in the album opener "Le toit du monde" ("Top of the World"). It's a sound they return to throughout the album, and it's one layer among many that makes this album sound so rich. The guitar and bass twist around each other, sometimes trading roles of melody and rhythm between each other. The drums shift easily between delicate minimalism and full-on blasts. And then there's the sheer beauty. The title track, which is one of my personal favorites, starts with a haunting and complex melody before opening up into a full roar, with grinding riffs made up of chords so harsh that just writing them down would have gotten you burned at the stake during the Middle Ages. Do you want even more strangeness in your death metal? Well, "The Battle of Chamdo" is a chamber music piece played by a string quartet, and perhaps the weirdest thing about it is that it doesn't sound at all out of place on this album. (In a recent interview, Luc Lemay mentions that he's written a violin sonata he'd like to see recorded.)

From Maryland Deathfest VIII. Photo by Carmelo Española.

You often see Gorguts described as technical death metal, but to be honest, that's far too reductive. This isn't an album full of blazing displays of technicality, even though the musicians are more than capable of it. Even calling it avant garde doesn't make a lot of sense, because to me, that phrase has taken on the connotation of "weird for the sake of being weird." Colored Sands has a sound that's easy to get close to, in spite of the wild sounds coming out of it. It's not simplistic by any means, but the complexity of it goes far beyond how many notes or polyrhythms somebody can stuff into one track. I often find that technical death metal or avant garde music in general requires a lot of effort. With the best of music, the effort is worth it, but it can also be tiring. But with Colored Sands, all I know is that as soon as I finish listening to it, I want to hear it again immediately.

[Go to the post to view the Bandcamp player]

Manilla Road - Crystal Logic

Guest review by Richard Street-Jammer.


Four albums into their career, only three of which had been released, and Manilla Road's sound was finally established. They'd etched away still more of the prog rock influences of their debut, but they kept the prog rock ambitions and sense of scale. Then and now, they had few peers in style, and fewer still in quality.

Crystal Logic opens with a minute and a half track of narration, and then the band rips into their best song, "Necropolis." It's a compact song, up tempo and to the point, with just a few riffs, a huge chorus, and a mid song tempo shift and guitar solo.

"Feeling Free Again" is another demonstration of the band's ability to write a killer three minute-ish tune. It's a playful celebration of being in love. Hop in your car, put the windows down, crank the stereo, and serenade your lover with the song while driving too fast. Trust me, it'll make sense.

Photos by Distortionplus.

The title track starts off as fast as "Feeling Free..." and "Necropolis," but it soon settles into Manilla Road's trademark groove. Elsewhere, it's business as usual for Manilla Road, but the business is stronger than ever. Manilla Road gets tagged as "epic metal," and no wonder: their core sound is expansive, but they're here to tell you a story, to make a point. Meandering serves them no purpose.

"The Ram," "The Riddle Master," and "The Veils of Negative Existence" live up to the epic metal tag. The riffs are a study in almost: almost hard rock, but too slow. Almost doom, but cut with too much speed. Almost progressive, but too direct and too forceful, and always excellent. "Dreams of Eschaton" lives up to its name, offering a foreboding series of riffs while Mark Shelton narrates the apocalypse.

Underneath the riffing, the rhythm section is adroit and nimble. Shelton's guitar solos belie his age at the time of recording. Send him forward in time, park him in front of a laptop cam, and he'd be a YouTube hotshot playing lead for a tech death outfit.

Photo by Distortionplus.

The Shadow Kingdom reissue features an extra track, "Flaming Metal System," that was originally released on a compilation album in the '80s. Other than some deranged vocals from Shelton, it fits right in with the album proper.

Thirty years and twelve albums later, Manilla Road still haven't topped Crystal Logic. They've only come close, perhaps because Crystal Logic is just that good. Perhaps it is something else? Perhaps it is age. Rare are the things that get better with age; number Crystal Logic among them.

[Go to the post to view the Bandcamp player]