Gutslit have been one of my favorite death metal bands from India for a long while now. They have the sense of terror and hunger that has always made the genre so exciting to me. Angular riffs and colossal sonic assaults collide on their latest offering, Amputheatre. It's a record that refuses to compromise, which perfectly represents the death metal polemic in 2017. Sure it doesn't have the slams that so many Americans favor these days, nor does it have some of the more ridiculous and oppressive bottom end that defines a lot of the European bands. Instead Gutslit is coming at you with the same sort of balls out assault that drew so many of us to the genre. They are moments here that can't help but to blow the mind, be it with insane grindcore parts, squirrely riffs or punishing rhythms that you simply can't wrap your head around. They have a specific aesthetic that they perfectly understand and which they have honed to unleash some of the most articulate death metal of the year.
There is a certain spiraling magic to Amputheatre that makes it an addictive listen. This is a band who crunch forward with the same sort of bloodthirsty intensity that a band like Cannibal Corpse might unleash. Yet there is a sense of dynamics that defines Gutslit which puts them a step beyond their peers. They have a brain smashing potency that most of their peers would never touch on. There is a sort of gleeful sense of carnage here that helps to make this record an inspiring listen. It's the same sort of intensity that has folks like me freaking out over Crypt Rot and Homewrecker except that here the focus is more on drowning you in complex storms of sound than it is trying to find a groove to pummel you with. All that being said – Gutslit have carved out a very particular niche for themselves, using gory lyrics to underscore songs that crack teeth and making us once more delight in the sheer sonic punishment that this genre has always been meant to represent.
In some ways Gutslit feel like a Necroticism era Carcass; they seem to be on the balancing edge between grindcore and much more evolved death metal and Amputheatre gives us a little bit of both. It gives us a record that can't help but to terrify at the end of the day, simply because Gutslit are that good. In a world where far too many death metal bands have come to just mimic their musical ancestors it feels like these dudes have founding something specific to thm. Something which is freakish to gaze upon but when you start to understand what it really means you can revel in the murk and smile as the blood ashes over you. This is an incredibly put together record for a young band and while it certainly suffers from a lot of the limitations common to younger death metal bands, these dudes seem to have a strong sense of forward motion and have the potential to work out something transcendent.
Score: 8/10
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