GUTVOID - Astral Beastiary
October 17, 2020, 4 years ago
(Blood Harvest)
Toronto’s Gutvoid are laying down some serious death metal on this debut EP, the band all at once getting cavernous, getting spacious, getting progressive on these three lengthy tracks, originally independently released digitally last year. I love how they combine Blood Incantation’s ambition with Incantation’s murk, even going down into some melodic sludge territory in excellent 11:26 centrepiece “Entranced By A Frozen Dawn”.
The three songs on this EP combine to create a sound that is actually pretty unique, Gutvoid managing to add tons of atmosphere to the proceedings as well, the band definitely looking forward within the confines of underground DM circa 2020 while not trying to go too far in any one direction, even when the songs kinda go on forever. But they’re not without purpose, without meaning, without heft: check out closer “Pilgrimage To The Necropolis Ruin” for some serious Paradise Lost into-glory-ride guitar work as the death/doom ceremonies come to a close, Gutvoid making everything work wonderfully here on this very promising EP.
