12 years since their last full-length, Gorguts have seen fit to grace us mere mortals with a new album. Has it been worth the wait? In short, oh yes, yes it has. Densely technical and chaotic, Colored Sands (Season Of Mist) is as punishing as it is rewarding. Whilst it’s far from being a catchy album, Gorguts never sacrifice riffs in favour of technicality, and their music never comes across as “technical for the sake of it”. The opening riff on ‘An Ocean Of Wisdom’, for example, is absolutely monumental, and almost hummable, before dissolving into atonal “melodies” that any fan of Deathspell Omega should be more than familiar with. The fluidity of Gorguts’ compositions on this album is astounding, flowing between eerie atmospherics, dense, rumbling riffs, and mind-bending technicality with ease that would make lesser musicians green with envy.
The album itself is also very well structured, making it a compelling listen from beginning to end. ‘The Battle Of Chamdo’ serves as a breather in the middle of the album, it is a composition written by Luc Lemay (vocals, guitar) on piano, and performed by a string quintet. It feels as integral to the album as any of the other tracks, and adds to the vastness of it, despite the fact that the overall sound on Colored Sands is suffocatingly claustrophobic. ‘Enemies Of Compassion’ rapidly ups the pace after the interlude, with pounding drums and some incredible fretboard acrobatics. It serves as a potent reminder that Gorguts are one of the best technical death metal bands out there, and is one of the many highlights on a consistently brilliant album.
Colored Sands is a very welcome return for Gorguts, which easily measures up with other entries in their discography. Whilst it may not be as other-worldly and terrifying as Obscura (but then, what is?) it shows that Gorguts have plenty of creativity left in them. The best thing about Colored Sands is that they haven’t attempted to recreate any part of their discography, yet it is still resolutely, undeniably, Gorguts.
8/10
Tom Saunders