DEMO REVIEW: Gutless – Mass Extinction

Here is a very belated review of the debut demo from GUTLESS, out now via Maggot Stomp Records. There is sometimes a release I miss that is too good not to revisit, this is one of them. Get ready for putridity…

1. Brutalised Into Submission opens things with raw and doomy guitar riffs, built in drums and a cavernously evil soundscape of old school Death Metal with thundering bass and catchy grooves. The punchy drums add some kicks with precision under the morbidly meaty guitar riffs, building into upbeat and gruesome assaults at full speed. The vocals are hellish, the snarled growls not cutting over the instruments but resting within them, a blunt force trauma effect being created. This filthy opening track gives me high hopes for the demo, grinding out total violence throughout. I really enjoyed the blistering guitar leads that nicely space out the song a bit, excellent work.
2. Evil Incarnate begins with quiet ambience and some awesome spoken word samples before blasting into more crashing drums and slamming riffs. The energetic hatred that is convulsed forth by the instrumentals is totally crushing with such a tight and punchy sound to everything. The vocals once more bring a savagery to the table with snarled, well spaced verses filled with menacing aggression. This piece offers another slab of grisly, old school and raw Death Metal butchery. Fantastic!
3. Boiled Alive fires out more hideously meandering riffs, odiously decimating with the barbaric drums blasting away under them. The crawling instrumentals topped with gurgling vocals sounds truly astonishing, really capturing the true Death Metal spirit of morbidity and dungeon-dwelling violence. The breakdowns are obliterating with their sheer intensity and primal grooves that are executed perfectly. The tremolo riffing and blastbeats are so dismally gloomy but filled with ferocious aggression, perfect for the vocalists grunts to overlay them. Another wicked track.
4. Cnidocyte falls into place with tormenting riffs, slamming drums and building to a full on barrage of chaotic, frenzied and claustrophobic Death Metal that grind out an intimidatingly forceful string of barbaric instrumentals and savage vocals, a thoroughly intense piece that creates total mayhem and havoc in its short running time. I loved the crunchy bass solo which had a fuzzy and thunderous tone. Hideously heavy, full paced and gnarly as hell. Great work!
5. Carnivorous Flesh sets in with feedback and blastbeats before giving us more catchy grooves, upbeat kicks and a macabre vocal performance. Clearly the band want to close the demo with all the aggression of the previous songs, successfully they pull of one final blitzkrieg of putrid assaults, unrelenting drums, killer riffing and snarled maniacal growls. The doomy touches interval the song gorgeously, reminding me of the first track, giving a complete package feel to the short release. We are thrown into more gut-churning convulsions and frenzied barrages throughout. A violently unsettling and incredible final track.

Odiously heavy, brutally intense and a totally crushing release of thoroughly enjoyable Death Metal. This is an incredibly impressive first demo, filled with violence, decimating drums, ferocious riffs and odiously grim vocals. I look forward to the band release more material in the future. -8.5/10