Review Summary: Welcome to the void.
Gorephilia is a death metal band hailing from one of the highly esteemed countries of death metal, Finland. An interesting tidbit about this record is that it was initially meant to be an EP, until more ideas were stirred and material that they had been refining since 2012 started showing up, and damn does that refinement show. The production, the craftsmanship, everything is just so well thought out and slick. There are pummeling, blast beats radiating with exuberance alongside heavy tremolo riffs. What's surprising is how this record still manages to pace itself, remaining relentless and aggressive yet occasionally slowing down for a slight amount of breathing room. Note, I say slight, because when the pace is slow, the riffs chug and stomp like wildebeest, with just enough string bending and wonky distortion to give a very mildly disconcerting Gorguts/Immolation like vibe.
Take star tracks like "Hellfire" for example. The blast beats and riffs are rambunctious, and equally so are the catastrophic growls by vocalist Henry Kuula. Speaking of which, while rather range restricted to only beastly lows, his booming voice is not to be undermined. It's intimidating as could be without ever shrouding the other instruments in some "wall of sound"(courtesy of the stellar production, once again). Off tracks such as "Harmaggedon of Souls" and the epic, and perhaps most crushing, even slightly menacing second to last track "Crushed Under the Weight of God". Perhaps that's one of the best ways to describe Henry Kuula's voice, hell even the entire album. The whole album brings together the image of a man, desolate, tattered and torn, watching earth unravel its final threads. To some extent, that's what this album is about, but I digress.
One of the biggest highlights about this record is as crystal-clean as the production values are, the bass is thick and heavy enough to create just a perfect amount of muddling in the mix. This adds a slightly sinister bite to the sound that otherwise would have not been as present. It also adds to the aforementioned slight Gorguts like vibe at times in spite of it's generally traditional death metal approach. With enough badass riffs to satiate the simpler of men, yet enough meticulously crafted solos, drum fills and bass work to alleviate the most unforgiving of blood thirsty metal heads, I implore you-give this a listen. We will welcome you at the void.
