Colored Sands

If I’m slipping into redundancy praising the newest efforts of long inactive bands, the blame lies squarely on the shoulders of bands like Gorguts, who, after twelve years of dormancy have returned with this great album. One that not only matches their landmark classics in quality but trumps it in musical and conceptual ambition. Instead of vainly trying to recreate their past (in all metal genres, a practice of diminishing returns) Luc Lemay and his recruited all-star group of virtuosos present to the listener this spiraling maze of discordance and meter, only using the accomplishments of their past as a springboard for what’s available on each song. Dysrhythmia guitarist Kevin Hufnagel’s elastic riffage is a flawless counterpoint to the technical mastery of drummer John Longstreth. The battery begins from the first introductory snare of opener “Le Toit De Monde”- the only allusion to Lemay’s French-Canadian heritage that you’re going to find on an album about the Chinese invasion of Tibet. The indignant anger is felt less through the vocal performance, which on past Gorguts was front and center, pained and unique and this time around almost completely through the staggering flexible prowess of the rhythms. There’s nothing show-off about the playing here; no notes wasted. “Battle of Chamdo” bests anything Apocalyptica have attempted in their own pomposity & “Forgotten Arrows” is indeed the heaviest song I’ve heard this year. Essential listening.

I was not very familiar with Gorguts before Colored Sands, so I can really only judge this album on its own merit. This is an amazingly complex and rewarding album for those with the patience for it. I've listened to it more than a few times by now, and I keep discovering something new about it that impresses me each time. Everything from Luc Lemay's vocals, to the blisteringly fast double bass, to the interplay between the guitars and bass blend together and provide contrast to create a truly unique listening experience. It all contributes to a sound similar to Dysrhythmia, but heavier... much heavier. All the songs are great, and the string interlude (The Battle of Chamdo) is fantastic. My only criticism is that Lemay's vocals are a little low in the mix. Unlike most technical death albums out there, this one isn't particularly fast, its absolutely crushing and sluggish more often than not (somewhat reminiscent of American Sludge metal, at least in my opinion). Don't get me wrong, I love fast, but this is a nice change of pace. I would highly recommend this album, its well worth the $10 you will spend.

12 years is a long time to wait for an album, but unlike many bands reforming to rekindle their former glory, Gorguts does not disappoint. With longer songs, and a more progressive edge, the album does not lose any of the urgency of old Gorguts, and actually feels more composed. At this point, the record doesn't have the groundbreaking quality of Obscura, but that does not take away from the impact and innovation that did go into the music here, lurching through doom riffs one second, organically morphing into blindingly fast sections. The addition of 2/3 of Dysrhythmia has added a freshness to Luc Lemay's sound. The departure of Steve Cloutier had me worried, since he has such a unique approach to playing bass, but Colin Marston easily makes up for it. It helps that both Marston and Hufnagel have been fans since the beginning of Gorguts, but they really do understand what the nature of the music is like. This album is going to take years to get old, if it even does.

very progressive in some songs, whereas i usually prefer raw and noisy to intricate and detailed. Le Toit du Monde and Enemies of Compassion are on the raw and noisy side. Very emotional album. I mean I am a metal fan but I still find Enemies of Compassion kind of hard to listen to. It is very intense and upsetting. But I am a indie pussy really. The first half of the album is more happy; it's about Tibet and what's great about it, whereas the second half is more centered around the Chinese invasion and occupation of Tibet and is very dark.

some hints of noise rock, death metal, post-rock.. it can get a little same-y at times with the guitars ringing out on the G string very often..kind of like drone music, but the atonal and crazy guitar chords and often scary musical passages make it very powerful, theres a full blown string quartet composed by the band in the middle of the album (performed on real string instruments instead of synths) that is very professional sounding.. and the album ends in an awe-inspiring way, pretty frightening for real, not cookie cutter death growls and processed guitars, this album has soul and is pretty and evil at the same time.. and the lyrics and images displayed are not about "gore" or "guts" they are about real life things anyone can relate to. a unique beautiful at times crushingly evil album that at times can be hard to listen to all the way through because of the darn constantly droning G string on the guitars.. but very, very solid. 4 stars. :)

Wow where to begin, one buy this album, it'a awesome and well worth the money and wait. After more than a decades wait gorguts has returned with a massive comeback album, colored sands. Which the lyrics revolved around the Chinese invasion of tibet, told through the sight of Buddhist monks. Each song crafted too perfection and no note feels out of place. There is a nice string section in the middle of album which is really nice and fitting, i only wished they experimented more with the strings, overall this album is amazing and worth every penny!

Very fast shipping from an awesome seller thank you so much 5 stars for sure great cd

have no idea - purchased for siblings

SIN *GORGUTS* NO EXISTIRÍAN *PORTAL*, *IMPERIAL TRIUMPHANT*, *ULCERATE* Y CINCUENTA BANDAS MÁS. DESDE LA EDICIÓN DE SU TERCER DISCO *OBSCURA* LOS INICIADORES, CREADORES Y REYES DE LA DISONANCIA. SIN DESMERECER SUS DOS PRIMEROS TRABAJOS, JUSTO ES DECIR QUE EN *OBSCURA* SE PRODUCE UN CAMBIO TRASCENDENTAL EN EL GRUPO Y EN LA DIRECCIÓN QUE ALGUNAS BANDAS TOMARÁN EN EL FUTURO EN CUANTO A METAL EXTREMO. *FROM WISDOM TO HATE* (2001), ESTE *COLORED SANDS* (2013) Y EL BRILLANTE EP "PLEIADES DUST* DEMUESTRAN QUE EL MÁS BESTIAL DEATH METAL, LA DISONANCIA Y EL COMPONENTE INTELECTUAL Y CULTURAL EN ABSOLUTO ESTÁN REÑIDOS, AL CONTRARIO, SON COMPLEMENTARIOS LOS UNOS DE LOS OTROS. EL CD LLEGÓ EN PERFECTO ESTADO. PRECINTO ORIGINAL. IMPECABLE.

excellent

A me è arrivato il CD giusto, che è anche un CD molto bello

-pretty good is an understatement! Since (inexplicably, coming from rather generic beginnings) initially peaking with their magisterial album 'Obscura' in 1998, two or more of their original band members are no longer among the living...) this CD was hotly anticipated. The band has an erratic, gap-rich release history....so hold your breath and listen to these 9 songs: it offers abstract, technically state-of -the art, artfully dissonant white-water death (I guess) metal of the finest. If 'Obscura' sounded like scary sounds from a demon-infested swamp, 'Coloured Sands' is the twister in the barbed wire factory with splinter grenades thrown in, more defined, more metallic and technical -and yet, there are always organic, hummable, even whistle-able melodies, often evoking beautifully surreal and serene pictures of cosmogony and dying neutron stars (in me). They could easily write soundtracks for Hollywood movies. Great to listen to in the privacy of my noise-encapsulating car during daily commute-rage. Maybe nothing really absolutely new -just everything very, very good, tight, breathless and frightening. One would only wish that potent artists like these here could transcend genre-specific metal boundaries and do something even more, really, really far out, something mind-blasting new -though I don't know what this would be -if anybody they've got what it takes.

Die neue Gorguts ist eine meiner Lieblingsscheiben 2013! Der Grundsound der Band ist nach wie vor zu erkennen, doch die neue Besatzung schafft ein episches Meisterwerk. Es ist düster, schleimig, atmosphärisch und braucht Zeit zum Einhören. Die langsamen und stets etwas atonalen Gitarren werden perfekt vom neuen Drummer in Grund und Boden geprügelt, ohne dumm und einfallslos zu sein. Wer die Vorgänger mochte, wird nicht enttäuscht sein.