THE EROSION OF SANITY

"The Erosion of Sanity" is the 2nd full-length studio album by Canadian death metal act Gorguts. The album was released through Roadrunner Records in January 1993. The original album release features 8 tracks while the 2006 Metal Mind Productions digipack re-release (limited to 2000 copies) features 2 additional bonus tracks. "The Erosion of Sanity" was also re-released in 2004 by Roadrunner Records along with Gorguts first album "Considered Dead (1991)" on one CD. The lineup who recorded the debut album are the same who recorded "The Erosion of Sanity".

Stylistically the music on "The Erosion of Sanity" more or less continues down the US influenced technical death metal path that Considered Dead (1991) also tread. The performances are just tighter, the technicial level of playing is higher, and the compositions a bit more innovative. The influence from especially "Spiritual Healing (1990)"/"Human (1991)"-era Death is still pretty dominant, but Gorguts started the journey towards their own sound on this album, and you can hear signs of things to come throughout the album in the dissonant riffs (which they would make a trademark on "Obscura (1998)"), and intriguing rhythmic playing. Alledgedly bandleader/main composer/vocalist/guitarist Luc Lemay sat in on the sessions for "Effigy of the Forgotten (1991)" by Suffocation and found the experience greatly inspirational. So while "The Erosion of Sanity" is definitely not a clone of Suffocation, the complexity of the compositions and the technical playing on the album do take some clues from the New York band.

While the pace is generally a bit higher on "The Erosion of Sanity" compared to the debut the tempos are still predominantly mid- to fast paced. A few more blastbeat sections have sneaked into the music, but that´s about it. The material is pretty consistent in style and in quality, but it´s not exactly hook laden music, and the album lacks memorable moments, which makes it a bit of a monotone and one-dimensional listen. Something which is further helped along by the monotone growling vocals. Luc Lemay has a higher pitched and snarling growling delivery (Chuck Schuldiner is the closest reference) compared to the deeper growling vocals of many of his contemporaries, but somehow the aggression isn´t that convincing.

The sound production is darker, and more compact that the Scott Burns produced debut album and overall the sound production is a step up from the sound on "Considered Dead (1991)". So even though there are some issues with the songwriting lacking hooks, "The Erosion of Sanity" is still a quality release by Gorguts. It´s well played, well produced, and relatively well written, and had the music included more catchy moments/more varity between tracks I would probably have given it a 4 star (80%) rating, but as it is a 3.5 star (70%) rating seems more valid.

'The Erosion Of Sanity' - Gorguts (7/10)

Gorguts' second album is one that most every death metal afficionado has heard, or will hear at some point. It is widely considered a classic of death metal, and following in the footsteps of their American peers, this Canadian group is a band that I have come to respect quite a bit. Although they would reach their true artistic zenith with the third album 'Obscura', 'The Erosion Of Sanity' is a strong album from the band. Albeit not yet having the innovation and mind-boggling direction that Gorguts would become better known for, I would still sake out 'Erosion' as one of the stronger conventional death records I have heard.

Although I would not consider myself a fan of much death metal, I have listened to enough to identify what I consider to be the better, and less glorious aspects of certain bands' sounds within the genre. As an album that came out in the early 90's, Gorguts here has a sound that is easily identified with many other contemporaries from North America; most notably the style's pioneers, Death. While I would say that Gorguts takes a sound of their own entirely on the third album, 'The Erosion Of Sanity' feels like a disciple to mid-era Death, particularly from that band's second album 'Leprosy' up to 'Individual Thought Patterns'. The guitar tones, solos, and even vocalist Luc Lemay's growl are very close to what Death was doing only a few years before. For any death metal fan, this is not necessarily a bad thing- and Gorguts pays an impressive tribute to Death here at that- although it has nothing on the sense of awe that 'Obscura' gave me.

The music is not particularly heavy or technical by today's standards, but there are riffs and sections here that sound as powerful as they ever have. 'Condemned To Obscurity' has one of the best riffs I have ever heard in death metal; an amazing song that is led in by a classical piano introduction, and then erupts with this apocalyptic pinch-harmonic fueled barrage that gives me chills. The riffs are potentially immense here, and there's even some nice bass to be heard here, provided it manages to peak through the mix. Lemay's vocals are strong, although he does sound like a disciple to Chuck Schuldiner here, more than anything. The thing that I am not finding myself too impressed with are the drums, played here by Stephane Provencher. While he certainly knows how to beat a drumkit to death, there are plenty of sections here where he uses blastbeats, and they do not work nearly as well as they should have. The muddy drum mixing does not help matters much either.

While I would not consider myself to be a fan of much that the death metal style offers, I believe that in its conventional form, the early 90s was the best period for the sound, and an album like 'The Erosion Of Sanity' backs up this notion. Gorguts would not break out from under the thumb of Death and other American bands until their third album, and while nothing else that Gorguts has ever done can raise a finger to 'Obscura', 'The Erosion Of Sanity' comes in second place; a fine, classic-sounding record for death metal.

First of all, I must say that any album cover by Dan Seagrave deserves attention. A master of creating these very ominous and bizarre landscapes, his work here is another in which I imagine myself being placed into. For a short period of time I'd think "Wow, what an incredible experience, this place is so unreal!", Soon after I'd follow that up with "I really need to get the hell out of here since this is not the sort of place a guy like me should be hanging around in AT ALL." This album cover does look like the sort of locale where an erosion of sanity would occur quite quickly.

As a death metal effort, this album to me comes across as being particularly front-loaded. The first track has the most memorable riffs and the second track has the looniest and most inventive musicianship, both tunes tied together by a pretty little haunting piano interlude. Really good stuff early on. Then, as the album lurches on from track to track, the songs seem derivative variations of the first two tracks, although some are fairly decent in their own right. There's even a short acoustic guitar break towards the album's end to break up the monotony for a spell. Outside of that, the last half of this album is a mystery in that no matter how often I've played this thing I can't remember how any of those songs go riff-wise or whatnot.

Musically the band is more than efficient, with stellar guitar playing leading the way. Vocals are tortured death growls that thankfully retain a bit of rage and despair, avoiding robotic gutterals for a more violent mid-ranged delivery. The lyrics spouted by that aural display are noteworthy as well, combining violent and gory imagery with grim yet thought provoking ideas rather than tired odes to how murdering people and devouring their brains is a good time for all (what one might have expected from a band with a name like "Gorguts").

The Erosion Of Sanity is pretty much an old-school technical death metal album that, while well played, didn't really blow my mind when it came out, nor does it now despite the reputation as a classic it eventually garnered years after its release. The first two songs alone make this album worth a listen, but as a whole The Erosion Of Sanity proceeds to get tiresome after awhile. Riffs and atonal melodies are tossed into each track like a death metal salad to the point where structure devolves into a bunch of progressions joined together for a length of time between four and five minutes. The later tracks do have interesting bits and individually can work frightening wonders on an mp3 player's shuffle, but a couple more interludes would have been a smart idea in this particular album's case.

A sudden leap into the progressive world of death metal makes GORGUTS' 2nd release a somewhat more interesting listen. Slightly more progressive than CONSIDERED DEAD but still firmly rooted in brutal death metal with some unconventional riffs and structures that would be fully realized on OBSCURA.

This album is a brutal beast save the occasional tinkling of beautiful pianos or classical guitar and if you're in the mood for no compromise brutality with slight progressive leanings than this is the album for you. I didn't hear this album at the time it came out so my affection for it isn't as strong as other's seem to have but it's by no means a bad album and is short enough to warrant a listen now and again. 3.5 stars rounded up to 4