Orgy of Murder

Judging by the band's revolving lineup history, it wouldn't have been a stretch to guess that an eight year gap between releases would likely mean an entirely new lineup for Gorgasm. Only the the band's central creative figure, guitarist/vocalist Damian Leski returned after shelving the project for years, but it's almost remarkable how Orgy of Murder seems like a pretty direct continuation of Masticate to Dominate, with only a few difference aesthetic choices that help to better place it in the modern brutal death metal context, a scene that's become thick with 'slam' death acts and other extensions of the 90s sound. Well, this time he surrounded himself with 3/5ths of the fellow Lafayette Indiana act Sarcophagy, all of whom also played in Human Filleted (I've written a few reviews of their albums), and certainly this is the most tight and professional roster he had yet assembled, though how much of this can be attributed to performance vs. studio wizardry is anyone's guess.

In fact, were I to judge Orgy of Murder simply on its technical merits, then I'd have no choice to but to assign it some high grades. The production is cleaner. The new members perform together with an insane level of almost mechanical precision. It's occasionally a bit faster than prior material, and though I'm not sure I'd cite it as more 'technical', one could make an argument for that descriptor. I'd hazard that, at least for the first half of the disc, the songwriting is actually somewhat catchier than a lot of what I heard on Stabwound Intercourse, Bleeding Profusely, etc. Kyle Christman's drumming isn't necessarily standout in such a wide field of bands performing at the same speeds and ability level, but it's effortless, all-purpose blasting and rabid kick speeds which are basically mandatory when playing music of this nature. They've always had some good bassists in this band, but Anthony Voight's performance here might be hands down the most technically efficient, especially when he gets a nice, wavy fill going as in "Exhibit of Repugnance". The vocals implement a lot of atmospheric, sustained growls which are often panned against one another to create a more cacophonous haze above the instrumental punishment.

Usually, the samples used on such albums provide just a few seconds of silliness to help emphasize the irony of the lyrics, but here, Gorgasm actually created some genuine freakout pathos with the opening sequence of "Cum Inside the Carcass". Just think about that, some killer cannibal telling you you're pretty soon just going to shat out of his body? Hideous (and effective)! I also dug that there was a continued sense of musicality in the faster riffs. Sure, you've still got your obvious hat tipping to Suffocation or Cannibal Corpse, but a few of the more melodic structures reminded me of Death's progressive material in the 90s, or the very clinical and unforgettable sense of riffing you got off the Pestilence debut Mallevs Maleficarvm. The songs have largely returned to shorter, 2 piece vignettes, several of which feel as if they're all over too quickly, but on the whole it's got a comparable duration to the prior album, and not quite so harried as I felt with Bleeding Profusely a decade before this. There's also a good deal of variety here, and it's possibly the most difficult of their albums to pin directly to particular influences...it's not 'unique' or 'unusual' for this niche in death metal, but it's fairly well rounded and hints at self-identity.

If there's one factor here that holds it back behind its predecessors, though, it has to be the breakdowns. Gorgasm was no stranger to implementing slower palm muted hooks to maintain the moshing furor of their audience, but on Orgy of Murder they feel rather forced and uninteresting. Almost as if they wrote an album with some decent faster material and then decided it wasn't slamming enough for the fan base they'd be facing in the 2010s. As such, many of the progressions seem unfit and bland, the sort you'd find chocking up the entirety of just about any second rate slam death metal record in the past few years. They're not really 'terrible' or anything, it's just that they don't add much to the flow of the other note patterns, and so they come across as pandering and unnecessary. It's not entirely a deal breaker, but I just feel as if I've heard them all before and that Gorgasm is simply more fascinating playing at a higher speed; and they transform what otherwise might have been a damn solid effort into one that just barely scrapes by.

But, hey, there are worse crimes than being just a 'good' death metal band, and Gorgasm have definitely established themselves in that classification for well over a decade now. Through all the intensity and the technicality, you still get those delicious hints of old school tremolo riffing and authenticity that date them back to their influences, and for nearly a decade of absence (other than one demo), it's impressive that Leski can snap the project from its hibernation and back into shape. Worth hearing if you're into their earlier work, or any of their peers on the Brutal Band imprint, or if morbid and misogynistic subjects like "Infection Induced Erection", "Axe to Mouth", "Third Degree Taste" and "Erotic Dislimbing" even remotely intrigue you...the lyrics to that last one...god DAMN, Gorgasm. You have soiled my spirit and scarred my psyche forever.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

Sometimes I feel like I listen to so much brutal death metal that it's hard for me to get too excited about it anymore. It's not that I don't still love the sub-genre. And it's not that I don't discover and enjoy tons of good albums each year. Don't get me wrong. It's just that the truly great stuff doesn't come along as often as I'd like. However, sometimes having patience can pay-off big time.

Gorgasm fans have been waiting since 2003's Masticate to Dominate for a new and hopefully exceptional album. Damian "Tom" Leski, long-time Gorgasm vocalist and guitarist, has recently resurrected the band with an all-new supporting lineup. With its newest album, Orgy of Murder, Gorgasm has managed to create a work that not only matches its past releases, but may even exceed them.

The songs on Orgy of Murder pick up where Masticate to Dominate left off eight years ago. Gorgasm grooves, blasts, and bludgeons its way through the album's brief half-hour running time while offering little respite to the listener. However, the album is just the right length that it doesn't outstay its welcome. Don't be surprised if you find yourself hitting "play" again as soon as the auditory battering ceases. Orgy of Murder is just that good. The production value is excellent and even stronger than on past releases. Everything cuts through the mix flawlessly. The guitars slice their way through a blur of precise, technical riffs and then switch to pounding grooves with little notice. Solos are virtually absent except during brief moments in songs like "Silence Follows Dismemberment." (A few more guitar leads would have added some welcome variety.) While the bass does stand out in "Exhibit of Repugnance," in most cases it serves the purpose of adding a huge layer of chunky, coagulated thickness to the sonic spectrum. Yet somehow, it never makes things too muddy. The crisp, clear drumming is of the standard tech style with the all-over-the-place diversity one would expect. There are tons of blasts, double-bass, and stop-on-a-dime changes. The vocals are indecipherable Mullen-esque growls that fit with the music perfectly. The production on this album makes all of these elements easy to hear separately, but still blends them into a powerful whole. Thanks to the combination of the killer songs and the flawless production, Orgy of Murder was definitely worth the wait.

I've never been a very big fan of bands that base nearly all of their lyrical content on fantasies about torturing and murdering women. However, Gorgasm is one of the few bands that fall into this category that are actually good enough that I will choose to ignore this issue. That's saying something folks. If you are a fan of anything brutal from the more well-known bands like Suffocation all the way down to the super-underground vomit-gurglers that have only one CD-R demo, you need to hear Orgy of Murder. We've all heard albums like this before, but rarely have we heard it done so well. Gorgasm has given me another album to add to the short list of brutal 2011 releases I can really get excited about.

Originally written for http://www.metalpsalter.com

I’ll preface this review by saying that I don’t like brutal death metal. Something about it always rubs me the wrong way so that I end up feeling like I’m listening to deathcore’s older brother. This shouldn’t be the case, since at least brutal death metal can do something right and sometimes even sound interesting. But I still can’t get the image of a retard being hit by a train out of my head whenever I listen to it. However, when looking around for good death metal releases, Gorgasm’s new album, Orgy of Murder, kept popping into the discussion no matter who I was talking with. In the interest of being open-minded (and not wanting to miss out on a good album), I decided to give this album a few spins.

From what I can gather, Gorgasm are a pretty big band in the brutal death metal scene. With that in mind, this is their first album since 2003, so I guess this was released to some degree of anticipation from Gorgasm’s fans. For starters, this is better than most brutal death metal I’ve heard before. This is pretty much a display of riffs over blastbeats, but at least the riffs are pretty nifty. Of course, I’ve heard much better riffs this year, but brutal death metal goes for simplicity, and in terms of writing utterly simple riffs that happen to be interesting, Gorgasm succeed. I particularly enjoy the ones in ‘Decapitation Sodomy,’ but that’s probably because they most resemble regular death metal riffs out of any riffs on the whole album.

The drumming here, however, is boring. Just like every other fucking brutal death metal band I’ve ever heard. The “variation” here (if you can call it that) literally consists of the drummer changing between blastbeats and basic double bass drumming, occasionally changing it up for a transitional riff that lasts for about 3 seconds. When I listen to metal, the thing I probably focus most on is percussion, so with this in mind, it’s easy to understand why I’m bored with this aspect of the album. One could argue that Cryptopsy and Suffocation were influences on brutal death metal, but at least those two bands have very interesting drummers.

That criticism leads into another one–songwriting. This album is basically thirty minutes of riffs over boring drumming. Sure, the vocals are fine, but they’re not that distinctive. If you made it through the whole duration, you likely just listened for the riffs, because that’s the only interesting thing going on here. Otherwise, the songs are just structured around blastbeats and “not-blastbeats.” I especially hate it when they try and slow down the riff to sound “extra br00tal,” like in ‘Axe to Mouth’ at around 1:43. This is when I start making deathcore comparisons (although I fully recognize that this is better than deathcore). Otherwise, the transitioning between sections of song is either boring or non-existant, basically pulling an Opeth and saying “WHOOPS, TIME TO ABRUPTLY CHANGE SHIT UP,” with the result somehow always being predictable.

In addition to everything I’ve said above, Gorgasm do the stereotypical brutal death metal thing to do and go with creepy audio samples and perverted song titles. Honestly, this lame attempt at shock value does nothing to me anymore and is basically in the same category of any lyrics about satan or any other generic lyrical topic in metal.

With that said, I feel like I’m being a bit too negative. This is certainly not an album that I personally love yet, but if I was a brutal death metal fan, I would most definitely enjoy this for everything that it does right within the brutal death metal archetype. Maybe this album will even grow on me, because what it does right, it does really well. There are definitely some fun tracks on here that are making me look at brutal death metal in a better light (‘Exhibit of Repugnance’ is pretty damn good). But to anyone who isn’t a brutal death metal fan, I doubt that this will be drastically changing anyone’s opinion any time soon. It”s good for what it is, and I’ll definitely be giving it regular listens throughout the year in hopes of liking it more. Enjoy, brutal death metal fans!

Written for http://thenumberoftheblog.com/

Last Friday, Gorgasm finally released their new album Orgy of Murder, after a hiatus of almost five years. With only one remaining original member (guitarist/vocalist Damian "Tom" Lenski), many people, myself included, wondered what they would sound like, and if they would be able to live up to their past efforts. After all, the last Gorgasm full length was 2003's Masticate To Dominate, and that album was way ahead of its time when it came out, so after not releasing anything for so long, would the band be able to stay ahead of the curve and maintain their heavyweight status in the ever-diluting brutal tech death genre? Well my friends, the answer is yes; a strong, resounding yes.

Despite being more or less out of the game for the better part of a decade, Gorgasm have never sounded better. Everything that was good about the band is still here and has been amped up; the riffs are more intricate, the drums are faster and more precise, and the song structures themselves flow smoothly from one section to the next. There are times on this album where the band actually sounds more a like a slower, beefier Spawn of Possession with their rapid-fire, stop and go blast beats and scale-happy guitar riffs. The lyrics aren't quite as misogynistic as their earlier material, although with song titles like "Infection Induced Erection" and "Cum Inside the Carcass", it's clear that they still have gore on the brain, which is just fine. It's pretty much what we've come to expect from them, and from the genre as a whole, so in all honesty it would probably be offsetting to see them deviate from the gore aesthetic at this point. Like they say, if it ain't broke don't fix it. Nobody reads the lyrics anyway, unless you're a dork... like me.

After listening to the album a few times through, I can really only find two things to gripe about. The first thing that comes to mind is a minor problem I've had with the band all along, and that's the lack of guitar solos. Call me old fashioned, but I find the whole "riff-o-rama" thing to be a little tiresome, a good solo once in a while really livens things up when it's nothing but nonstop riffs and growls. There is a little bit of a solo in the bridge of the opening track "Bloodlust" (points for originality on that title, guys), but it's brief, it's the only one on the whole album, and it's really nothing special in the first place. Come on guys, with all this talent on display you're telling me nobody knows how to write a couple cool leads? But then again that's just me, plenty of people insist that solos don't really work in this particular subgenre. The other complaint I had was that Orgy of Murder does, unfortunately, get a bit repetitive after a while. About halfway through the album it starts getting difficult to tell one song from the next, and I felt like the whole thing peaked at the first song. At the same time, the songs are all super brutal and well-written, so by no means is it boring, it just kinda starts to sound like the same two or three cool ideas happening all over again in slightly different ways. Regardless, Orgy of Murder is still one of the most solid albums to come out this year, setting the bar pretty high for everyone else. I wouldn't be surprised if this album ends up being featured in the 2011 Top Albums of the Year list.

Read more metal news and reviews at http://moshrebellion.blogspot.com/

I'm not going to waste time in saying this: This is the strongest, most diverse Gorgasm album to date. For any fan of Gorgasm, or any fan of brutal death in general, that should say something... specifically, "Make this your next fucking purchase at all costs."

In many respects, this isn't a particularly surprising release from Gorgasm. They've carved a unique sound amongst the droves of Suffocation/Deeds of Flesh-style brutal/tech bands by melding over-the-top grinding brutality with classical sensibility. They still do that on this release, arguably more successfully than they ever have before. What is surprising about this release, however, is that they've put a foot into the burgeoning realm of slamming brutal death, likely thanks to the influence of new drummer Kyle Christman, veteran of the fellow Indiana brutal death band Human Filleted. They've also expanded further out of the realm of 4/4. Although previous releases toyed with odd time signatures from time to time, this is their most ambitious effort in that regard, and the results are, as the cliche says, "fucking brutal."

As per Gorgasm tradition, the drums on this album are fast and blasty as fuck. In fact, this is some of their fastest work to date. What I found a lot of the older releases lacked, however, were drummers that tried to make their drumming a bit more varied. For that reason, Christman is Gorgasm's strongest drummer to date - along with an obviously practiced blasting technique, he brings some great fills and an ear for odd time signatures into the mix, which is maybe the only area where a significant improvement on the classic Gorgasm sound could have been made in the first place.

The guitar work is, yet again, impeccable. In bringing guitarist Ryan Saylor on board, Leski has found yet another capable partner in making his melodically twisted vision a reality. Chromatic riffs are evident most prominently during the slams, and the tech riffs contain the bulk of the Bach-inspired content on the album, which is a great format for them. Again, though, the band has stumbled into new territory on this album, including some slower, more open, even "epic," chording riffs with deep melodies and great bass work under them.

Oh hey, the bass work. Anthony Voight, also of Human Filleted, has taken over duties for this album, and yet again, Leski has found a replacement that does more than just fill the shoes he's been left with. As usual, the bass on this album is plainly audible and matches up with the guitars. This is not to say that Voight simply follows the path the guitars blaze, though he does on the riffs that call for a bit of low-end reinforcement.

The vocals are typical for Gorgasm - dual duties between Voight and Leski, neither of whom go with the ultra-guttural gurgling that dominates brutal death today, and instead opting for more of a Frank Mullins deep growl. I don't prefer one to the other, so long as they're aggressive enough to go with the rest of the music. These vocals check out and then some.

Perhaps the best way to sum up this album comes in the opening few riffs in the song "Exhibit of Repugnance," released in late 2010 as the first promo for the album. It opens with a jerky 14-beat intro, complete with a nice little quick stop at the end to throw you headlong into the first riff, which is a grinding palm-muted riff with plenty of dissonant melody and, as far as I can tell, the fastest blasting this band has ever used on an album. After two cycles through the riff separated by a thrashier interlude between them, the guitars open up and play some rich, dissonant chords while Christman plays a shuffle beat (of course, with more than proficient double-bass work under it) and Voight continues shredding under the whole mess of it. All of this leads into a slam that alternates between 7 and 8. It's a fucking chaotic 75 seconds.

Other pinnacles on this album include the slam at the end of "Infection Induced Erection," everything about "Dirty Cunt Beatdown" including the name, the solo and proceeding groove riff towards the beginning of "Bloodlust," and the choppy riff in the middle of "Silence Follows Dismemberment." Overall, though, there's not a weak moment on this release. If you like slam, brutal death, tech death, melodic death, death metal in general, or even fucking music, you should get this release now.