Gut is an odd band. It’s been said before, and I’ll say it again. Why? Because it’s an apt description, that’s why. These Bostonian metal-heads are certainly one of the more curious acts that’s come into my life as of late. You see, when I was introduced to Gut, there were two things I noted immediately: their rather unusual name, and the articles attached to the band. In the words of Gut themselves:
“An insanely brutal assault of murderously evil, ear bludgeoning super Death, Doom, Thrash, Grind, Speed - core absolutely does NOT describe GUT.” Well, when listening to the music, you won’t be able to understand exactly what category Gut falls into anyway. Why the band had to go and confuse people even more with such a statement is beyond my logical reasoning. Okay, not really: it’s kind of like a cheap marketing ploy; one designed to keep a certain sense of mysticism about the artist themselves. It’s been done before.
Actually, basically everything Gut has done with their debut EP
Shrubbery has been done before. The band themselves have been lauded all over for their varied musical tastes (ranging from thrash, hardcore, the blues, jazz, and stoner-rock) influencing their songwriting. You see, the one catch Gut has with critics is the fact that they’re odd and their music is drawn from all over. Well, as you know, I won’t refute the fact that they’re odd. Refer to the first paragraph for more on that. However, Gut is not musically virtuosic. As a matter of fact, most of
Shrubbery sounds identical, up until the slightly monotone-breaking introduction of the final song, “The Butcher (Knee Deep In Blood).” Gut pretty much sounds like a slower, sloppier version of
Pantera. I’d imagine that alone will turn plenty of potential listeners off.
However, even if it isn’t as eclectic as you might’ve been led to believe, the instrumentation on
Shrubbery actually isn’t bad at all. The guitar riffs, while slow and (occasionally) sloppy are appropriately metal, and should keep most head-bangers happy. Guitarists Jeremy Youngberg and Geoff Morse keep things nice and steady, and even throw in a solo here and there. Take “Smoking Man” and “Promise Keeper” for example. Both of these songs showcase the best Gut has to offer guitar-wise. As the bass and drum kit go, Mark Pryor and Mike Adams (bass, drums respectively) do a good job of anchoring the furious guitar barrage the blitzkriegs your ears. The only real downside to the musicianship on
Shrubbery is that it’s plagued by terrible production. Gut’s record label, Fat Togue, certainly proves that it’s new to the game, and definitely underground. Still, the sh
itty sound adds a certain sense of, dare I say charm, to
Shrubbery.
So, where does Gut fail? The vocals. Front-man Brian Morse’s performance on
Shrubbery is absolutely atrocious. His harsh, guttural, start-stop scream hardly appeases the ears, and makes the entire album sound filthy. It isn’t a good kind of filth, either. When Morse’s starts his ridiculous excuse for singing,
Shrubbery begins to sound like a radio station that’s struggling for reception. Lyrically, the album is slightly below average. Gut like to stick plenty of metal clichés into their wordplay, mixed with a little bit of profanity. Of course, with Morse doing God-knows what behind the mic, you can’t understand them anyway. Now, I know that this is underground metal, and it’s supposed to be, well, heavy, but come on. Morse just can’t cut it with this vocal style. He’s likely to contract polyps, and we wouldn’t want that, would we, Gut?
At the end of the eighteen minutes and thirty three seconds that is
Shrubbery, I (as well as any other listener, I’m sure) feel cheated. Gut show frustrating potential that’s poorly utilized. The band really isn’t that bad, they just have plenty of kinks to work out before they hit the big time. More than anything, they need to have a chat with Morse. His faux-Neanderthal grunt isn’t working in the band’s best interest at this point. There’s nothing inherently wrong with him, he just needs to
sing a little more, because that’s what
singers do.
Shrubbery is a decent release from a band that can bring much more to the table than this. Still, I’m going to adopt a “wait and see” approach before I join the Gut fan club. I suggest that you do the same.
