This Canadian death metal band has severely pushed the limits of modern music with their ground-breaking album Obscura, released in 1998. Despite being critically acclaimed, the album sold very few copies. It is however regarded as a landmark release in avant-guard and technical metal.The band was formed in 1989 and released their first demo in 1990. Receiving a record deal, they began releasing albums. Initially they were a fairly standard death metal act, and they accomplished some mainstream success, but not enough to keep their label. Upon being dropped, they spent five years on hiatus, beginning again with an almost entirely new lineup (save for one of the originators, Luc Lemay), and releasing the very unique, and aptly titled Obscura. After releasing another album in 2001, the band's drummer, Steve Macdonald, having long struggled with depression, committed suicide, and the band eventually split. Recently however, there has been some new material surfacing on the internet, including a rehearsal video of Lemay and new drummer John Longstreth.
The sound of the album is very difficult to describe, and though it is extreme metal, it falls outside of any particular sub-genre or established sound, forsaking both the popular music foundation of metal, as well as the classical tradition. The high degree of sonic experimentation has led to it's inclusion in the avant-guard sub-genre. Initially, the music is very repulsive, especially to those that are not familiar with extreme metal. The rhythms are very complex and ever changing, the melodies are extremely dissonant, and the instruments and vocals are almost always intentionally at odds with one another. Because of this, Lemay's rasping and chaotic vocals are hardly the most abrasive of instruments.
Despite initially sounding chaotic and biting, upon closer listening, it is evident that the chaos is very carefully orchestrated, and therein lies the beauty of Obscura. Utilizing classical technique, the band uses all of the rules to break the rules. It is evident through repeated listening that the band has created a sort of carefully organized and beautiful chaos in the image of the best of formalist art. The music is very intellectually challenging, but well worth the effort to be able to piece it together. Not only is the album itself entirely unique, but each song on the album is very distinct. A good example of this is comparing the speedy and melodic Subtle Body to the incredibly somber, plodding, and dissonant Clouded.
Lyrically the band is also very interesting and unique. In a genre of music most often categorized as having violent, gory, or melodramatic lyrics, Gorguts is surprisingly minimalistic (though markedly dark) in it's choices. Because of this, the lyrics can be as hard to penetrate as the music itself due to both the degree of abstraction, as well as many obscure references, or passages written in Latin. A plausible interpretation of the lyrics concerns a soul moving from the living world into the afterlife (the actual afterlife is difficult to pigeon hole as an established locale, i.e. heaven or hell). The lyrics deal with the journey in depth, with a special emphasis on the emotional impact of the transition on the soul.
Obscura
Clouded by the bliss obscura
Covered by the frame of drama
Intra limpidus obscura
Limen ex nihilum...Opacitas
Trux omnillustrare...
Ex regnum de exsanguis
Lux absentia, funditus
Silenced, fragments of nostalgia
Laments, frailty of the mind
Bounded by the abyssal fence
Light cleanses the internal sense
Obscure feeling of immensity
Black Opera, unio-mystica
Vibrate, filter of emotions
Filtrate, shapeless screen unfold
Reverie, climate of energy
Blackness, centre of whiteness
Intra limpidus obscura
Limen ex nihilum...Opacitas
Trux omnillustrare...
Ex regnum de exsanguis
Lux absentia, funditus
As mentioned, the music is very challenging, but well worth the effort to understand it. A listener can literally absorb it for hours and constantly find new subtleties. After several months of listening to it, the audience will barely have scratched the surface.
Biography
Discussion pt.1
Discussion pt.2
Sputnik Music Review
American Nihilistic Underground Society Review
Ground and Sky Review
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