Line #61 Music/Gorguts


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gorguts.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:L-R: Patrice Hamelin, Luc Lemay, Kevin Hufnagel, Colin Marston]]
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4	Gorguts are a Canadian [[AvantGardeMetal Avant-Garde]] TechnicalDeathMetal band. They formed in 1989 with Luc Lemay (vocals and guitar), Sylvain Marcoux (guitar), Éric Giguère (bass guitar) and Stephane Provencher (drums) as the original lineup. After a deal struck with Roadrunner with their demo, they released their debut album, ''Considered Dead'', in 1991, later being re-released in 2004 on the same disc with their sophomore effort, 1993's ''The Erosion of Sanity''. The first two albums are old-school death metal and are regarded as atypical efforts for the band, although many (perhaps most) fans still regard them very highly. The band began to experiment more on the second album, incorporating pianos and acoustic guitars into their sound, although it was nothing compared to what would come next.
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6	The songs the band composed for their third album, ''Obscura'', were a complete departure from anything they or anyone else had done (arguably, only Music/{{Demilich}} had done anything remotely comparable), and consequentially, they had a difficult time finding a record label to release their material. Their new material essentially dispensed with any traditional metal conceptions of melody, using 20th-century Classical composers such as Music/DmitriShostakovich and Music/KrzysztofPenderecki as inspirations, plus Eastern musical traditions (particularly Indian). As a result, the album sounds incredibly dissonant and atonal to first-time listeners, though most songs do eventually reveal melodic hooks after repeated listening. The album is generally considered their GrowingTheBeard moment (fittingly, because the album cover depicts a bearded man sitting in the lotus position) where they established their SignatureStyle, and not merely their greatest work but one of the greatest DeathMetal albums of all time, if not the greatest. (It has also been repeatedly compared to Music/CaptainBeefheart's ''Music/TroutMaskReplica'', almost to the point of MemeticMutation.) Although many of the songs were written as early as 1993,[[note]]The last two songs composed, ironically enough, were the TitleTrack and "Nostalgia", two of the best-known songs on the album[[/note]] the album would not appear until 1998. By this point, Lemay was the only original member left.
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8	When Steeve Hurdle left, the band got yet another new lineup, which appeared on their fourth album ''From Wisdom to Hate''. This album can be considered something of a fusion of the ''Obscura'' style with the sound found on their first two albums; it keeps the weird Eastern and 20th-century Classical-inspired melodies but uses more traditional song structures. Tragically, drummer Steve [=MacDonald=] ended his life in 2002, leading to Gorguts' split.
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10	In 2008, however, Lemay reformed the band with yet another new lineup at Hurdle's suggestion. (In the intervening time, Lemay and Hurdle had been working together in the similar tech death band Negativa, which released one EP in 2006 that is essentially a Gorguts release in all but name. Unfortunately, Hurdle's death in 2012 put an end to Negativa.) The band spent five years working on new material before releasing their fifth album, ''Colored Sands'', in 2013.[[note]]The album was leaked two months in advance; label Season of Mist released the album digitally a month later, but a month ahead of schedule.[[/note]] ''Colored Sands'' is a ConceptAlbum about the history and culture of UsefulNotes/{{Tibet}}, with greater influence from ProgressiveMetal acts such as Music/PorcupineTree and Music/{{Opeth}} and a greater emphasis on dynamic shifts. The album also contains a neoclassical instrumental performed by a string quartet, "The Battle of Chamdo". It has received great acclaim.
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12	As of March 2014, John Longstreth is no longer a member, as his schedule with Music/{{Origin}} was incompatible with that of Gorguts. Patrice Hamelin has been manning the kit live since 2011, and is now credited as an official member in the packaging of the band's first EP, the 2016 release ''Pleiades' Dust''. The EP consists of a single thirty-three-minute song centring around the House of Wisdom, a library in Baghdad during Europe's Dark Ages. Many innovations that we now take for granted, such as algebra and a number of astronomical discoveries, were developed at the House of Wisdom. At the time, it was the largest library in the world, and scholars from all over the world flocked to it. Stylistically, ''Pleiades' Dust'' is to some degree a continuation of the sound found on ''Colored Sands'', with the main difference being one of structure, though Lemay cited the French BlackMetal act Music/DeathspellOmega as an influence on the EP.
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14	Gorguts are one of the most acclaimed death metal acts out there, but their music is not for everyone. Due to the extreme intensity of their music and their abandonment of familiar harmony, it is common for first-time listeners to find it frightening, but repeated listening does reveal nuance and harmony underneath what initially sounds like noise. It may take a lot of effort to penetrate all the layers of their music, but it can be extremely rewarding to do.
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16	!!!Members
17	* Luc Lemay – vocals, guitar (1989–2005, 2008–present)
18	* Kevin Hufnagel – guitar (2009–present)
19	* [[Music/{{Krallice}} Colin Marston]] – bass guitar (2009–present)
20	* Michel Bélanger - drums (2023-present)
21
22	!!!Notable Past Members
23	* Steeve Hurdle (RIP 2012) – guitar, vocals (1993–1999)
24	* Steve [=MacDonald=] (RIP 2002) – drums (1993–1995, 1998–2002)[[note]]Although [=MacDonald=] does not perform on ''Obscura'', the drummer who did, Patrick Robert, credits [=MacDonald=] with writing a lot of the parts Robert played; Robert said he mostly just put extra flourishes on [=MacDonald=]'s parts[[/note]]
25	* [[Music/{{Cryptopsy}} Dan Mongrain]] – guitar (1999–2001)
26	* [[Music/{{Origin}} John Longstreth]] – drums (2009–2014)
27	* Steve Cloutier - bass (1993-2005)
28	* Patrice Hamelin – drums (live, 2011-2023; studio, 2014-2023)
29
30	!!!Discography
31	* ''Considered Dead'' (1991)
32	* ''The Erosion of Sanity'' (1993)
33	* ''Obscura'' (1998)
34	* ''From Wisdom to Hate'' (2001)
35	* ''Colored Sands'' (2013)
36	* ''Pleiades' Dust'' (2016) - EP
37
38	-----
39	!!This band provides the examples of the following:
40	* AlbumIntroTrack: "...and Then Comes Lividity"
41	* AllThereInTheManual: Several albums have flavour text explaining the background of the album's concept or providing additional detail for the songs' lyrics.
42	* AvantGardeMetal: They are credited with bringing avant-garde influences into DeathMetal. Other bands before them, such as Music/{{Demilich}}, had already done this to a certain extent, but arguably no one had done this to the extent that Gorguts did with ''Obscura''.
43	* BadassBookworm: Part of ''Pleiades' Dust'' focuses on Al-Ma'mun, who was definitely an example of this trope. After conquering new lands, instead of demanding gold from those he defeated, he would demand books from their libraries. He then used the knowledge from these books to strengthen his rule.
44	* BoleroEffect: ''Pleiades' Dust'' does this pretty often.
45	* {{Bookends}}: Lyrically, ''Pleiades' Dust'' opens and closes with the couplet "Scornful dogma / Withering era". It also opens describing the fall of the Roman Empire in the fifth century, and closes describing the fall of Baghdad in the thirteenth century. Both of these resulted in lengthy dark ages (the former of which were, of course, ''the'' Dark Ages). Musically, its opening and closing are structured similarly, as well.
46	* BreatherEpisode: "The Battle of Chamdo" again, sort of. It's intentionally structured as the midpoint of the album, with the first four songs focussing on "the splendours of [Tibet], the culture, the topography, the geography", and the latter four focussing on "the country being invaded, people protesting through immolation, people getting killed trying to escape". "The Battle of Chamdo" represents the 1950 Chinese invasion, but unlike the rest of the album, which is TechnicalDeathMetal, "Battle" is a neoclassical composition for string quartet inspired by Music/DmitriShostakovich and Krzysztof Penderecki. There are a few passages on ''Pleiades' Dust'' that serve similar purposes, with the longest being the one from about seventeen minutes into the piece until about twenty-one minutes into the piece (which incorporates the instrumental movement "Stranded Minds on the Shadow of Doubt").
47	* ConceptAlbum: ''Colored Sands'' explores Tibet and its relation to the outside world. ''Pleiades' Dust'' takes a historical perspective on the Middle East and ''its'' relation to the outside world.
48	* DeathMetal: Since their beginning, they've always been rooted in this style. Their old material was an old-school example of the genre, while they've added avant-garde, technical, and progressive influences starting with ''Obscura'', for which they've become a TropeCodifier (see below).
49	* DespairEventHorizon: How [=MacDonald=] was DrivenToSuicide.
50	* DownerBeginning: As mentioned above, ''Pleiades' Dust'' opens with the fall of the Roman Empire.
51	* DownerEnding: ''Pleiades' Dust'' ends with the Islamic Golden Age being overrun by the Mongols in the mid-thirteenth century. Thousands were slaughtered, including some of the brightest minds of the age, and entire libraries were thrown in the river. It took centuries for Baghdad to recover. RealLifeWritesThePlot and TruthInTelevision as, of course, this actually happened.
52	* DrugsAreBad: Hard drugs, anyway. Evidently [=MacDonald=] developed a problem with hard drugs toward the end of his life that he was never able to climb out of. The other band members have speculated that this may have been a factor in his suicide.
53	* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Compared to what would follow, ''Considered Dead'' and to a lesser extent ''The Erosion of Sanity'' are very traditional death metal, as opposed to the band's later work. (Perhaps this is better described as an example of "early instalment ''lack of'' weirdness", or LaterInstallmentWeirdness, if you will.)
54	* EpicInstrumentalOpener: "The Quest for Equilibrium" stands out as a particularly obvious example, but the band have a few others as well.
55	* EpicRocking: Many of their songs, especially post-''Obscura''. ''Pleiades' Dust'' is a full EP comprised of one thirty-three-minute track (although it is divided into seven separate movements, of which the longest is itself nearly twelve minutes long); their longest standalone album tracks are "Clouded" (9:32) and "Absconders" (9:08).
56	* FadingIntoTheNextSong: Several transitions on ''Colored Sands'' and ''From Wisdom to Hate'' do this (some specific examples on ''From Wisdom'' are listed below under SiameseTwinSongs, though it has more examples that are closely linked enough to qualify for this trope but not for SiameseTwinSongs). "Obscura" also fades into "Earthly Love"; the final three songs on that album are also linked, though somewhat more subtly.
57	* GratuitousFrench[=/=]BilingualBonus:
58	** The song title "La Vie est prélude... (la mort, orgasme)" translates as "Life Is Prelude (Death, Orgasm)". It is worth noting that the French use the phrase "la petite mort" ("the little death") as a euphemism for orgasm. JustifiedTrope, since the band are from Quebec.
59	** The song title "Le Toit du monde" is French for "The Roof of the World". Evidently it refers to a mountain range in Tibet.
60	* GratuitousLatin: The chorus of "Obscura" is in Latin, though it has some grammatical errors, and it seems like the band made up a few {{portmanteau}}s. "Illuminatus" also contains some Latin, with two of the four words again being {{portmanteau}}s, and the song title "Das Martyrium des..." is sort of a mashup of GratuitousLatin and GratuitousGerman (''Martyrium'' is Latin for ''martyrdom'', but is not a word in German; "Das Märtyrertum des..." would mean "The Martyrdom of..." in German).
61	* HorribleHistoryMetal: ''Colored Sands'' focuses on Tibet's horrible history and ends up questioning whether nonviolence can be effective in the modern world, and ''Pleiades' Dust'' focuses on the House of Wisdom and the Islamic Golden Age. The latter doesn't play the trope straight for its entire running time, but given the fall of the Roman Empire at the start of the album and the fall of Baghdad at the end, it certainly encompasses the trope.
62	* HumansAreBastards: This seems to be a central theme of ''Colored Sands''. Lemay has commented in interviews how utterly inoffensive the entire history of the Tibetan people has been; nonviolence and love towards one's enemies have been a central part of their teachings for centuries, and "they're not interested in the concepts of jealousy, domination, [or] megalomania". They have been rewarded by being subjected to torture, imprisonment, and other atrocities. Lemay questions both whether the Tibetan people can survive and what is fundamentally wrong with humanity that they have been treated in such a fashion. The title relates to the ground being "colored by suffering" and the fact that "nobody puts a real foot down to help them and get the Chinese out of there".
63	* IAmTheBand: Luc Lemay. However, this is PlayedWith as Lemay allows the other musicians to come up with their own parts for the songs starting with ''Colored Sands''. Hufnagel and Marston also each contributed a track to ''Colored Sands'', and before that album Lemay often cowrote many of the songs with other band members. However, by virtue of the fact that he's been the only constant member, Lemay is definitely the name most associated with the group.
64	* {{Instrumentals}}: "...and Then Comes Lividity", "Waste of Mortality", "Sweet Silence", "Testimonial Ruins", "The Battle of Chamdo", "Stranded Minds on the Shadow of Doubt". Some of these [[PlayingWithATrope play with the trope]] by providing [[AllThereInTheManual flavour text for the songs]] (quotes from historical works for "Stranded Minds" and text apparently written by the band members themselves for "Testimonial Ruins") in the liner notes.
65	* LastNoteNightmare, NothingIsScarier, and ScareChord: The ending of "Sweet Silence". It ends with a period of sustained silence punctuated by occasional uses of a slowed-down sample of the last chord of the song. Each time, the sample gets slightly lower in pitch and the time between uses of the sample increases. Several people have commented that it's one of the most terrifying parts of the album. This also counts as a case of MeaningfulName, since of course the silence is a rather large part of the reason the ending is so effective. (The song title may also be a ShoutOut to the Copenhagen studio in which Music/{{Metallica}} recorded several of their most acclaimed albums, including ''Music/RideTheLightning'' and ''Music/MasterOfPuppets'').
66	* LeadBassist, LeadDrummer: As is commonly the case for TechnicalDeathMetal, the bassist and drummer are as important to the music as the guitarists, no matter the lineup. Colin Marston is also the band's producer and engineer at this point.
67	** Marston actually released [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdQdwbgyqYg this bass-and-drums-only mix]] of ''Colored Sands'', which unsurprisingly sounds a lot like the works of the Japanese ProgressiveRock bass-and-drums duo Ruins. The mix reveals some nuances that are somewhat lost behind the rich wall-of-sound production of the album proper - the sometimes melodic core of Marston's bass lines is more apparent here, and it's possible to hear Longstreth's ghost notes much more clearly. Also, Marston's playing style and especially his EQ often end up sounding like those of the late, lamented Music/{{Yes}} bassist Chris Squire (check out the ''Yessongs'' version of "The Fish" for proof that Squire's playing could get ''heavy'' when the mood was right). In any case, the bass-and-drums mix is a fascinating listen in its own right and may give listeners even more appreciation for the album proper as well.
68	** Marston has also posted video footage of live-in-the-studio performances of the bass tracks to ''[[https://youtu.be/mHm56uabR_4 Pleiades' Dust]]'', "[[https://youtu.be/6XkRMqNNDx4 Le toit du monde]]", "[[https://youtu.be/o5DAN98GBi0 An Ocean of Wisdom]]", and "[[https://youtu.be/jsyQeuVpIbs Forgotten Arrows]]", mind you. One thing that these videos make eminently clear is that one reason for latter-day Gorguts' unusual sound is that Marston plays a six-string bass and treats it more like a third guitar rather than simply playing the root on each chord - he often plays entire chords and uses at least three octaves of the instrument's range. A number of riffs that listeners might think are played on guitar are actually the bass.
69	* LoudnessWar: Played straight on the CD versions of ''Obscura'' and ''From Wisdom to Hate'' (both [=DR5=]), which is likely intended to make the sound of those albums even more dense and impenetrable, but averted on the LP versions (both of which are [=DR10=] in the War on Music pressings, and probably at similar ranges on the Century Media ones). Drummer Patrick Robert actually criticised the mastering on the CD versions, complaining that it clips constantly (which is a big problem for a drum sound), and said he was glad ''Obscura'' was remastered. Also averted on ''Colored Sands'' and ''Pleiades' Dust'' (respectively [=DR9 and DR8=] on their CD versions), which probably isn't much of a surprise to anyone familiar with Colin Marston's mastering on other bands' works.
70	* MultinationalTeam: Half the band (Luc and Patrice) are from Canada, while the other half (Kevin and Colin) is from the US.
71	* {{Mythology}}: Their lyrical theme on ''Obscura'' and ''From Wisdom to Hate''. Releases since their reformation have tended to focus on history.
72	* NewSoundAlbum: To some extent, AllOfThem:
73	** ''The Erosion of Sanity'' incorporated instruments such as pianos and acoustic guitars, which were somewhat unusual in death metal of the time. However, this is ''very much'' a downplayed case compared to the band's next example.
74	** Starting with ''Obscura'', they ditched the old-school sound from the previous albums to their noisy, off-kilter, and frequently bizarre style of tech. 20th-century Classical and Eastern music became major influences on the band's style at this point, and they have continued to be ever since. The band's rhythms also became much more complicated, with UncommonTime now a core element of nearly every song, and the band used much more complicated song structures: although some songs are comprised of only around five or six riffs, those riffs can last as long as thirty seconds apiece.
75	** ''From Wisdom to Hate'' mixed elements of both ''Obscura'' and the two older albums before the latter, using similar melodies and rhythms but moderately simpler arrangements.
76	** ''Colored Sands'' was overall more on the prog side, with the average song length being around seven minutes and the band acknowledging the influence of Music/{{Opeth}} and Music/PorcupineTree. It's also ''slightly'' LighterAndSofter musically than the band's previous work, but the bulk of the emphasis goes on ''slightly''; it's still plenty noisy and dissonant throughout (with the exception of the Music/DmitriShostakovich-inspired neoclassical composition "The Battle of Chamdo", which is still dissonant). The band also makes more usage of dynamic range than they did on their previous work, although their next release would incorporate even more of it. Lyrically, it's even DarkerAndEdgier than the preceding two releases, with HumansAreBastards being a central theme of the work.
77	** ''Pleiades' Dust'', while maintaining the noisy and weird sound of their last several releases, takes the prog influences up to eleven by structuring the entire release as one song (though it contains seven discrete movements). It also makes more usage of dynamic range than most of the band's previous work, with liberal use of {{Subdued Section}}s and the BoleroEffect.
78	* ProgressiveMetal: Not on their early material, but arguably by ''Obscura'' and certainly by ''Colored Sands'' they were a prog death metal band.
79	* ProtestSong: The band's recent material could be considered examples of this trope. ''Colored Sands'' focuses on Tibet's mistreatment by the outside world, while a stated objective of the band with ''Pleiades' Dust'' was to push back against the stigmatisation of Muslims as terrorists by highlighting some of Islam's historical contributions to world civilisation.
80	* RevolvingDoorBand: Quite a few people have been members over the years. Somewhat downplayed since their revival, as only the drummer's spot has changed (and even then, Patrice Hamelin has been manning the kit live since 2011).
81	* SiameseTwinSongs: "Obscura" -> "Earthly Love"; "The Quest for Equilibrium" -> "Unearthing the Past"; "Elusive Treasures" -> "[[GratuitousGerman Das Martyrium des...]]". Interestingly, despite being on opposite sides of the LP, "The Quest for Equilibrium" and "Unearthing the Past" remain SiameseTwinSongs on the LP version, which means that there is a sudden cutoff at the end of side 1 (but also means that a person ripping the vinyl can preserve the SiameseTwinSongs in their rip).
82	** ''Pleiades' Dust'' is sequenced as a single track but is divided into seven movements in the tradition of old ProgressiveRock songs like "Music/SuppersReady", making it an arguable variant of this trope.
83	* SignatureStyle: Dissonant riffs overlapping with avant-garde-style music that happens to be loud and screechy to obtain a sound of uniqueness.
84	* SpecialGuest: [[Music/{{Death}} James Murphy]] and [[Music/CannibalCorpse Chris Barnes]] on ''Considered Dead'', as well as a group of classical musicians on ''Colored Sands''.
85	* SpiritualSuccessor: Negativa was intended to be this. Steeve Hurdle and (for a time) Luc Lemay were both members (Lemay left and reformed Gorguts because he wasn't as interested in the improvisational elements of Negativa's music). Unfortunately, Hurdle's death put a stop to that. The band did release one twenty-minute EP, which is great in its own right and very similar in both style and musical quality to ''Obscura'', but with more {{improv}}.
86	* StartMyOwn: Negativa was originally the SpiritualSuccessor of Gorguts before Hurdle decided to change musical directions when he left, leading to the resurrection of Gorguts by Lemay.
87	* SubduedSection: Several songs on ''Colored Sands'' employ this trope to great effect, and ''Pleiades' Dust'' uses it several times as well.
88	* TechnicalDeathMetal: Of the strange, noisy, dissonant type, for which they are generally considered to be the {{Trope Codifier}}s.
89	* UncommonTime: Plentiful, as is par for the course with TechnicalDeathMetal, although sometimes they'll subvert it. ''Pleiades' Dust'' has a lot of passages that sound really complex rhythmically, but when you count them a lot of them come out to 4/4 or 6/8; they're just divided in unusual manners (such as 7/8 alternating with 9/8). The EP still has some straight examples, though.
90	* WolverinePublicity: Patrice Hamelin. Basically, if you're from Quebec and play death metal, odds are that he will either join your band or fill in for your drummer live at some point. His unbelievable technical skill and ability to learn large amounts of songs very quickly doesn't hurt either.

Context Music / Gorguts