Rating: 9.7

Country: Canada

Release Date: 1998

Record Label: Olympic Recordings

Track list:
1. Obscura
2. Earthly Love
3. The Carnal State
4. Nostalgia
5. The Art of Sombre Ecstasy
6. Clouded
7. Subtle Body
8. Rapturous Grief
9. La Vie est Prelude... (La Mort Orgasme)
10. Illuminatus
11. Faceless Ones
12. Sweet Silence

Total playing time: 60:30

Band Website: Gorguts

Gorguts - Obscura

Luc Lemay - Guitar, Vocals
Steeve Hurdle - Guitar, Vocals
Steve Cloutier - Bass
Patrick Robert - Drums

Over six years have elapsed since this avalanche of Canadian creativity fell on unprepared ears and it is still well before its time. "Condemned to Obscurity" from the 1993 album 'The Erosion of Sanity' gave merely a slight taste of the warped music that was to follow. Not a breath of fresh air as such, more like total immersion in a corrosive sea on an alien world where time fluctuates and death is at one with awareness. Little wonder that it polarised opinion; for many the pain of the prison of flesh was expressed too mercilessly and vividly by the jarring music.  

Squawking chords, harsh tortured vocals, grotesque detuned brutality, sheer opacity, strangled epileptic passages and volatile tempo changes that seem aligned to the force of gravity. Organic dissonant riffs from the subconscious mind meld into each other from all sides, with no way to accessibly break down songs into convenient bite sized snacks; this accentuates the increasing sense of wonder (and shock) as you revisit the album.  

The composition reeks of evolution rather than construction, culminating in the skin-crawling "Sweet Silence" that plunges you into a death-like cosmic sutra then resuscitates you into panic before eventually you transcend the corporeal state and arrive at pure chaotic bliss. Only during "Clouded" could you call it self-indulgent, where fighting your way out of a pool of tar is manifested and you suffocate on your own frustration.  

"There's melody Jim, but not as we know it"; warm ancient eastern flavours permeate songs like "Nostalgia" and "Subtle Body" before they inevitably implode and become violently oppressive. Blastbeats, lazily used as a fallback for increasing power in more conservative death metal, are more like spasms of a rabid beast here, with the rampant title track trapping you in the synapses of a raging carnivore.  

Critically, the vibrant production retains the extremity, technicality, detail and density of the material so that nothing can prevent the music encircling and nourishing your mind, whether you are tortured by it or enlightened (or both). This album is unique in any genre. Perhaps a second wave of enthusiasm will result in the vision being fully grasped, by listeners as well as potential imitators. We need more music like this; sixty minutes of mind-raping is not enough!  

March 7th, 2005