GUTVOID – Durance Of Lightless Horizons
November 8, 2022, 2 years ago
(Blood Harvest)
Toronto's Gutvoid are filling a void in extreme music with this incredible debut full-length. And it's because in songs like excellent 9:18 opener “Coils Of Gas-Hewn Filament” the band hits the caverns but also hits the cosmos, this sort of Incantation-by-way-of-Blood-Incantation sound taking me exactly where I need to go.
I love the songwriting smarts of the sudden blasting over the repeating riff that happens at some point mid-journey here, then when it dips down to a quarter-time trawl, man, it's just too good. There's more atmosphere and exploration on this one song than on many bands' entire records. “In Caverns It Lurks” deals in slightly more traditional doom-death, craggly and sneaking over the battlefields with a hint of haunting melody, Gutvoid, again, checking off an alarming amount of boxes here. “The One Who Dwells Beyond Time” is the mid-album epic, Gutvoid delivering a sound mature far beyond their years (and their name); “Skeletal Glyph” is a more concise 5:28 DM grinder before the huge, 14:53 closer “Wandering Dungeon”. This song is a massive slow-burner that definitely brings to mind provincial neighbours Gorguts with its subtle complexity, its leisurely stroll to climax, the way it just steamrolls relentlessly.
A fantastic way to end off a fantastic album, Gutvoid establishing themselves easily as one of Canada's best DM acts here, and one of the best newer DM bands out there, period.
