Gorod - A Perfect Absolution review

Year : 2012
Genre : Technical Death Metal
Label : Listenable Records
Origin : France
Rating : 9.2 / 10

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France's premiere technical death fleet is tearing through mere chaos to deliver 38 minutes taken directly from the infinite attributes of its radically capricious originator. With its latest full length declaration "A Perfect Absolution", Gorod makes an efficient move towards the harmonic hook in the sense that the release is packed with full musculature music that exhibits noteworthy propensity to offer masterfully sculpted semi-prolonged motifs to hop unto, while maintaining the intoxicating level of musical intricacy and playful sonic brutality that are trademark ingredients of the genre. The album shows great consistency and content-richness that takes the flow of things galaxies beyond the usual field of operation of miserable criticism, - remember, the piece of art reigns above the critic - a circumstance which is starting to become pretty much "just natural" with legit technical death. This LP is all about the precious readiness to summon top of the heat sonic rabidity with a good amount of metaphoric sonic outposts in the fabric that openly seek to convey a more easily approachable anatomy, and it is safe to say that these segments are flattering their chosen archetypes with a skill set that is very rewarding and supremely pleasant to be treated by. Read on to find out more about those.


Technical death metal and its valiant mission to worship chaos rampant-unalloyed is taken mad serious on the delivery, an artistic behavior that bends to the command of scientific sonic warfare that tolerates no limits other than the ones worth violating. Gorod sports a truly stellar Godzilla mode that turns your pineal gland into a raging maniac on spot, - tazer cannon not included - its technical breaks are compact and efficient, and the one aspect I have been telling you about that I feel characterizes this release, is indeed a pronounced urge to play around with different subgenres in a fruitful attempt to "Gorodify" those without any concept of failure and mercy regarding these key initiatives.

The rhetorical elements to be found are numerous and somewhat/entirely subjective, while the music is complex enough so it can reveal novelty even upon the 111th listen, - I did not yet try it, I just know it instinctively - and this especially is true concerning the very core of the spin, which submissively belongs to fractal-level death metal. With that being said, I picked up herein the musical rhetorics of exigent progressive metal with the promise of going death metal any time, muscular metalcore is equally a part of the fray, - easy, there are no emo choruses - and the band takes the well positioned liberty to deliver radical surprises on occasion, like with track number 5, "5000 At The Funeral". This is a brief-, very well executed moment of smooth jazz all in the tradition of manouche swing with a well defined blunt, just notice how the music exhibits a chord progression-, a harmonic environment that reeks Summertime all the - aua. - time.

With this 38 minute full length, Gorod brings to you an eloquent technical death metal statement that guarantees a lot of pure gold content to soak your ears into. This genre is supremely demanding, and the only reason I score this robust release a tad tamer than what very recent technical death metal has brought to us, is that the other early TDM contribution of 2012, Spawn of Possession's Incurso clocks in at 52 minutes. Other than that, I love them both, and I'm pretty sure that you're loving them, too, if you are serious about what you are giving your listening time to.

Rating : 9.2 / 10

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Gorod - Transcendence EP review

Year : 2011
Genre : Technical Death Metal
Label : Willowtip Records, Listenable Records
Origin : France
Rating : 9.6 / 10

The Transendence EP from French superheavyweight technical death metal formation Gorod brings you a package with exceptional readiness to offer flamboyant variation of mood and behavior. The first track, called "Earth Pus" - clap your hands for the dude with the title idea - is an intense album opener that, in my opinion, as a direct escapee from a recent day Obscura LP. Radical-, no holds barred melodic work tears silence with a constant hunt for the bidding of its own capriciousness to see if it wants the fucking riff or not, finding plenty of space to freely and inventively lament beside the blast beat and the singer dude, who happens to have a charismatic nervous breakdown each time he is opening the mouth. So things are pretty acceptable.

The second track is a more gently shaped direction that makes use of a buff acoustic setting, one that is pretty much steroid unplugged in character. Steroid unplugged IS good for your awareness, my love. The music exhibits a nice variety of surprising sonic traits and aspirations via the myriad kinds of minor mood-references it connects with each other to form the flow of the experience. I'm picking up vibes of bittersweet bourbon-schanzon, quite traditional Shakira-asshaker Latin that borders on Al Dimeola's take on circus music, - whenever he shreds madly, he plays circus music, no? - supported efficiently by a haunting-, abundantly note-rich feel that is one favorite of aforementioned act Obscura, as well. This narrative, mysterious mood is traded for yet another set of impressive runs of more traditional forms of music as the build progresses, and, while the skills these passages are explored by, guarantee a rewarding momentary experience, when combined with the musically more engaging feeling of the Obscura-like sci-fi thrill, are prone to deliver a final fabric that blames the traditional elements as finely calibrated fillers, in my opinion. Guys, let's talk about the rest of the tracks, too.


Third installment, "Textures", is a cover of the original piece of the same title from progressive band "Cynic", and, since I must admit I do not currently know the source material, all I can say is that I find this cover to be a more successful -, more richly sounding dataflow to flatter the buff quasi-unplugged setting you have the chance in track 3, as well. This super-eventful delivery, though has distorted twin guitars to offer legit, liquified riff -work with great enthusiasm, also sports a sanely controlled global sound that does not seek to intimidate the ears, and remains a gentle composition at heart, instead. Gently, BUT very richly sounding, that is. I think it is safe to say that the Cynic cover is a superb moment of the LP, and I have the hunch that it ends abruptly enough to express dissatisfaction for. So do that if you want.

Fourth track, called "Earth Pus - Salvation" is a much more focused acoustic build, focused on content that is quite rare to behold, that is. The territory this music is coming from is not one you can fake access to if you have none, and it also is a close border-territory to the thrilling sci-fi vibe so eagerly cultivated by recent technical death acts. It sure as cartoon-hell much better, in my opinion, than the arpeggiated fantasy-bard direction.

Titular track, Transcendence is a 15 minutes epic with an initial tendency to flatter the Turkish cutpurse-chaser vibe with varied intensity, and, though this vibe is not one that I would fight with a raksasha for, I must admit it looks interesting when Gorod jackhammers the living music out of it. When this happens, and the flow arrives to the 5th minute mark, the build already is totally free of the need to relate to any mood, and it sounds much more gracefully consumable. At 6:42, you are in heavy fucking duty death metal with truly top level efficiency, and the sonic richness-, AND the integrity of the fabric herein demands unalloyed praise. The music is relentless and raging for a good amount of time herein, and it stays super-focused while declaring its urge of wanting to devour all, leaving you no other chance than to believe and be devoured, indeed. A devoured listener is a shitty one, too, so Gorod spits you out and resurrects you into totally acceptable form, and takes on a more restrained-, but absolutely rewarding mid-tempo stroll that never loses focus from the intricate melody, be it any shape or form or direction to flatter it along. At 11:59, Gorod sounds like it is creating a hilarious parody of metalcore, as the riffcraft shows the anatomy of that particular trend-genre, but supports it with such sexy and relentless rhythmyzation that badly abused metalcore as Thesis finds a new, magnificent will to live and shine by.

Rating : 9.6 / 10

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