GUTSLIT is a Mumbai based death grind metal band that needs no further introduction. Every metalhead alive in the country knows them and the music they play. They’ve toured across Europe, put out numerous releases, carved their niche in the grindcore underground, and put India in the underground map of extreme metal. In 2016, the band put out an instrumental version of their track ‘Scaphism’ for the hunt of a new vocalist. And with Kaushal LS, who also happens to be the vocalist of another phenomenal band GODLESS, their hunt was over, making one of the strongest releases of 2017. Gutslit is recently back from the European album launch tour, playing 15 shows in more than 6 countries along with three other bands from different continents. They are the only Indian death metal band to be able to do this.
Getting on with the review, ‘Brazen Bull’ is a track taken off of their upcoming album ‘Amputheatre’. I don’t even know where to begin with this track. Excellent production, top-notch bass, drum, vocal, and guitar work, and a great sense of song structure. The level of intensity was off the charts in every section. The riffs are fucking catchy, laced with neck-wrecking grooves yet brutal as hell all at the same time. And then they put a solo into it when the track was so awesome already. I honestly thought there was no need for it but they did it anyway with sheer technicality. The bass lines are rich and fantastic and the drummer absolutely slays on the kit. And I just can’t get enough of the vocals. The rich throaty guttural growls are an absolute pleasure to listen to.
When the band announced their former vocalist Aditya Barve’s departure, I was a bit skeptical about whether they’d find another worthy member for their band and finally the doubt has been cleared. They couldn’t have found a better replacement. Although Aditya was nonetheless a monster, Kaushal is my new favourite.
And check out their fucking cover art. It’s as brutal and uncompromising as their sound. Take a glance and you immediately get an insight into the album’s Brutal Death Metal aesthetic crafted by the hands of none other than Eliran Kantor (Incantation, Hate Eternal, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Testament).
Brazen Bull is a torture and execution device used in ancient Greece. Generally lifesized, sometimes larger, it’s a bronze statue in the shape of a bull. It’s hollow on the inside with a door on the side. The victim was shut in the Brazen Bull and a woodfire was lit under it, heating and roasting the victim inside. It also had an apparatus in the nostrils of a bull to convert the smoke and steam of the victim into a bellowing sound for the entertainment of the onlookers. Saw it in a movie once. Daaaamn! Pretty gruesome eh? So there lies the whole concept of the song.
This is some quality brutality right here. The sound is massively heavy and crushing, unleashed in all its fury. Brutal Death Grind or Death Metal lovers in general, you can’t miss out on something as great as this.
Also Read: Track Review: Chaos – The Great Divide
