Gorguts

All Music Guide:

Over the course of its decade-plus existence, the Canadian quartet Gorguts has made the transition from being a highly skilled, yet still somewhat run-of-the-mill death metal band, to being one of the most advanced, experimental, and challenging groups in the entire genre. In the process, they have confounded many fans of their earlier records (and death metal in general) while at the same time earning the attention and respect of many listeners outside the metal community. The Quebec, Canada-based band formed in 1989 with a lineup consisting of Luc Lemay (guitar, vocals), Sylvain Marcoux (guitar), Eric Giguere (bass), and Stephane Provencher (drums). They released the cassette-only demo And Then Comes Lividity in 1990, which led them to sign with Roadrunner Records. Their full-length debut, Considered Dead, came out in 1991 and featured guest appearances by guitarist James Murphy (Death) and vocalist Chris Barnes (Cannibal Corpse). The Erosion of Sanity followed in 1993 and continued to mine a similar vein. However, coinciding with the decline of death metal's popularity peak, they were subsequently dropped from the Roadrunner roster.

The band then went into a five-year state of limbo, during which all members except Lemay left; in fact, many fans and observers assumed them to have broken up. However, they eventually returned -- drastically retooled -- with Steeve Hurdle (guitar/vocals), Steve Cloutier (bass), and Patrick Robert (drums) filling in the missing slots. Signed to Olympic Records, this lineup released Obscura (1998), an uncompromising, hugely ambitious album that met with a mixed reception: some applauded its experimentation, while others found it too far-out and dissonant. Hurdle left Gorguts after this album and was replaced by Daniel Mongrain of the Canadian technical metal group Martyr. From Wisdom to Hate, Gorguts' first album with Mongrain, followed in early 2001.

Wikipedia:

Gorguts is a technical death metal band from Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada. The band formed in 1989 and its only constant member is Luc Lemay.

History

Gorguts were formed in 1989 by Luc Lemay (vocals and guitar), Sylvain Marcoux (guitar), Éric Giguère (bass) and Stephane Provencher (drums). They released their first demo, ...And Then Comes Lividity, in 1990 which led them to be signed to Roadrunner Records. Their first album, Considered Dead, featured guest appearances by James Murphy (a guitar solo on "Inoculated Life") and Chris Barnes (backing vocals on "Bodily Corrupted", "Rottenatomy", and "Hematological Allergy").

In 1993, they released their second album, which was more experimental and technical, titled The Erosion of Sanity. After the release however, Roadrunner decided to drop them. Subsequently, the band went into hiatus for five years, with many fans believing that they had broken up.

Then Lemay, the only remaining original member, returned in 1998 on Olympic Records with a new line-up consisting of Steeve Hurdle (guitar); Steve Cloutier (bass); and Patrick Robert (drums). This lineup released the album Obscura, to great acclaim.

After Obscura, guitarist Steeve Hurdle left and was replaced by Dan Mongrain of tech death band Martyr, and drummer Patrick Robert was replaced by Steve MacDonald. Gorguts' next and final album was From Wisdom to Hate, released in 2001. This album is stylistically a mix between the earlier albums and Obscura. Lemay, the primary songwriter on the album, experimented more with the use of sounds, rather than notes, in riffs, such as the opening riff of the album, on the song "Inverted" which uses a combination of pick-slides, pick tapping and traditional picking. However the album was in general much more straight-ahead and brutal than Obscura, with longer and faster blast beat sections, and more atonal guitar solos from the newly added guitarist.

Steve MacDonald, who had a history of recurrent depression, committed suicide in 2002, which eventually led to the split-up of Gorguts in 2005. Steeve Hurdle formed Negativa and asked Luc to join in; an EP was released by this band. As of December 2008, a demo track of Gorguts featuring guitar and programmed drums which was previously unheard by the public, surfaced online, and Lemay himself confirmed an upcoming reunion featuring Colin Marston, Kevin Hufnagel and John Longstreth. While the new Gorguts has been performing live and writing new material, Lemay stated that the band would not be entering the studio until the "late fall" of 2010 with a release date sometime in 2011.

Former Gorguts guitarist Steeve Hurdle died on May 20, 2012, following post-surgical complications.

Line-up