When I read that French 5 piece, Gorod are often described as jazz / death metal I thought ‘oh ffs’. I mean I hate jazz, to me it sounds like all the musicians are trying to race each other to the end of the song…. and not necessarily the same song. Yeah I know it’s all very clever and diverse and what not, but jazz (along with reggae) is one of the two types of music I just can’t stand. Hate it. Makes me almost homicidal. So, not being over familiar with the bands back catalogue it’s fair to say I went in with a bit of a closed mind.
The wafty piano intro track ‘Air de l’Ordere’ cemented in my head that I was gonna hate this but then the guitars kicked in and I was swept away on the multi textured ‘Temple Of The Art-God’.
‘A Maze of Recycled Creeds’ is Gorod’s 5th full length release and their first with new drummer Karol Diers behind the kit. This is an album packed full of some of the most technical death metal you’ll hear this year. Now you’re probably aware, if you’ve read some of my reviews, that I’m not a fan of technicality for the sake of it. The ‘oooh mum look aren’t I clever’ fret wankery approach doesn’t do it for me. But Gorod, whilst…. yeah, showing off a bit have put so much thought into the songwriting here that I find myself coming back to this album a lot and I always hear something different amongst the maelstrom of complex riffing and surgically precise time changes. Speaking of which, new boy drummer Karol Diers certainly earns his money here, reminding me of Neil Peart with his blend of intensity and complexity. The guitar work from Nicolas Alberny and Mathieu Pascal is a cracking progressive blend of thrashy parts with plenty of funk oozing through too. This album will definitely have some of the bedroom Malmsteens getting their knickers in a twist.
Julian Dereyes vocals avoid any typical death metal clichés and suit the music 100
This is a good album and you need to definitely immerse yourself in it over a few listens to even scratch the surface of what’s going on. Light and airy one minute darkly malevolent the next – ‘The Mystic Triad Of Artistry’ is a great example of this.
Never predictable and worth a punt if you like the more technical end of the DM wedge.
(8/10 Mark Eve)
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