Reviewed by:
sevenchurches, on march 04, 2008
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Sound: "The Erosion Of Sanity" is the 1993 follow up to their debut "Considered Dead", a record which saw Gorguts establish themselves as major innovators of the Canadian (and also having huge impact upon the American) death metal scene. However, if Gorguts were an emo band I'm pretty sure they would be the greatest ever, as they had much cause for grief, being dropped by Roadrunner directly after releasing this album, which they haven't topped yet in my honest opinion. Death to Roadrunner. Listening to this CD you are at first overwhelmed by the insane riffing on Lemay and Marcoux's parts and then by the extremely complex drum patterns and blast beats (though done tastefully) from the legend that is Stephen Provencher. One of my complaints on the debut was that the bass was not half as clear as it should have been but they fairly make up for it here, as Éric Gigučre unleashes some of the most creative and ambitious bass lines, akin to the likes of Steve DiGiorgio or Roger Patterson. As on the debut, they have two songs with un-metal sections; the first being a piano intro to “Condemned to Obscurity”, it also being integrated discordantly into a later riff, having a really cool effect. The other being the intro to the last song (and incidentally my favourite song off the album) “Dormant Misery”, which sounds like two nylon string acoustics to me. It is brilliant. The musical arrangement is very out of this world. Luc, being a classically trained musician, he was able to insert harmonies and intricate passages in places other bands of the era would have simply put screaming or a guitar wank, and the music in general is full of strange melodies. I have no real negative criticisms of the sound, as I myself have been trying to achieve the guitar tone the and style of playing on this album unsuccessfully for the last few months. // 9
Lyrics and Singing: As usual the lyrics are sung through the growly (if not gurgly) jowls of Luc Lemay. The lyrical content has changed though and instead of singing about people being buried alive and people falling into jungle traps and being cold, they sing about the horrors of the mind. The actual title should have given it away already. The album contains some of the most memorable stanzas in the genre. I don't know if the lyrics had any kind of impact on anyone else as most people seem to listen to Gorguts primarily for their music and no one ever writes them in the "favourite lyrics threads." Enough dilly-dally though here's an example of awesome lyrics: “Having lived with this pain in mind, makes me see this world through a different eye, but it's up to them to change, their biases inside, when I came near losing my own life, it made me learn the true meaning of a smile”. It’s very “out there” compared to typical metal lyrics. The subjects of their lyrics are quite original and most modern technical metal bands seem to have picked up on this. My only negative comment is that Lemay's voice is at times very strained and unintelligible but I guess it's up to the listener to criticise and enjoy accordingly. // 7
Impression: This album just reeks technicality and progressiveness. In my last review of "Considered Dead" I compared Gorguts to Atrocity and Suffocation, but this comparison is no better illustrated than on this album. "Pierced From Within" and "Todessehnsucht" would be two great albums to check out along with this CD. For me the most impressive songs were "Condemned To Obscurity" for it's compositional prowess, "Hideous Infirmity" for it's meaningful lyrics and "Dormant Misery" for being an abnormally great song. The production far exceeds that on "Considered Dead" (one might argue that it exceeds that on "Obscura" as well) and everything is a lot clearer than before. I think it's a landmark in death metal and Canada should be proud of their most under-rated sons! // 9
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