The Erosion of Sanity

After releasing a fantastic debut in the form of Considered Dead, Gorguts still felt they had something more to prove with their sophomore album. Few could have predicted just how big a step up 1993's The Erosion Of Sanity would prove to be, but Gorguts made progress in leaps and bounds. Their sophomore release was the last album they put out that was still firmly routed in the old school death metal genre, and is often considered to be a staple of the genre. It showcases everything that made their debut so good, but generally feels just a little tighter, from the vocals to the riffs to the song structures.

The guitar work on The Erosion Of Sanity is some of the best you will find anywhere in death metal. The squealing pinched harmonics are all over the place in the title track to add a nice dimension to that particular song, whereas Dormant Misery makes great use of an acoustic introduction before it cuts into the brutality in great fashion. The riffs here are not the constant tremolo picking that many old school death metal bands decided to make use of, but instead they show off a good level of technical ability. Orphans Of Sickness has some really fast chord based playing as it progresses that show off the technical side of the band really well.

The other instruments here are also fantastic. The drums are constantly evolving throughout the duration of this album, cutting from ridiculously fast blast beats to some more crushing mid-paced beats in seconds. Hideous Infirmity opens with one of the most creative beats on the album before diving into a thrash beat and a lot of bass drum leg work to keep the listener interested. Meanwhile, the bass attempts to deviate from the norm of death metal of just following the guitars on songs like the introduction of With Their Flesh He'll Create, where the guitars play a couple of chords and then break whilst the bass continues rumbling away. Gorguts' bass player must be one of the most criminally underrated in all of death metal, and he shows exactly why on this release.

The vocals are the tormented howls that were there on their first album, and not a whole lot has changed on Luc's delivery. He grunts and shrieks his way through each of these songs, adding a great voice to fling the lyrical content out there with. His growls are not the most powerful in the genre but they definitely add a nice characteristic to their sound. The actual song structures here are another reason why it succeeds, diving between really fast riffs and slower dual-guitar parts with ease, such as the more plodding part of With Their Flesh He'll Create. Meanwhile, the guitar solos on this album are found occasionally and also add a neat texture to the music. Gorguts' second album is truly a masterpiece that any death metal fan should consider checking out.