GROSS MISCONDUCT - Equinox

January 6, 2019, 5 years ago

(Independent)

Greg Pratt

Rating: 8.0

review black death gross misconduct

GROSS MISCONDUCT - Equinox

Vancouver’s Gross Misconduct have been plugging away since 1999, the technical death metal band here releasing album number three, still taking care of things independently, which is a bit of a surprise, as this is quality stuff. First off, the cover art—finally—is as classy as the band deserves, and that’s quite a bit of class: despite the band name, which I really could never get behind as it sounds way too jokey, this is technical death metal of a very high calibre. 

Check out the Gorodian twists and turns of “A Place Of Bones”, for example, Gross Misconduct delivering both groove and raging death while also managing to take things to slower, more thoughtful places. And it’s not just that song: this album is full of labyrinthine tunes that are more journey than song, but not in a self-indulgent way, and never in a way that sacrifices the riffs. Check a song like “After The Vultures” to hear those riffs in action, the band absolutely shredding it with prog-era Death guitar work for miles, the production pristine and mature, the melodies in “Ocean Inferno” following it up with some serious far-reaching atmosphere and an insanely good prog-metal mellow solo part as the song stretches out in its final third, closer “Slow Burn” also bringing those atmospheres, each song here really an entity of its own, Gross Misconduct totally realizing their strengths on this album. They won’t be independent next record out.



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