Gorefest, Rise to Ruin
Man fans of Gorefest thought that the band had released their most devastating material to date with their 2005 release, La Muerte (the first in over 7 years). Well, I can safely say that they (myself included) were horribly wrong. Gorefest’s Rise to Ruin slams the door on that notion with a pummeling assault unrivaled by most of the band’s previous material.
Combining Jan Chris de Koeijer’s social commentary delivered through guttural vocals with flesh searing riffs, technical solos and brain bruising drums, Gorefest sound the loudest and heaviest they have sounded in a long time. Period.
Revolt
The opening track has a catchy as hell chorus that will have you shouting “revolt!” with the band in no time. This is a heavy as hell track, softened only by a brief bit of quiet instrumentation prior to shifting back into ludacrous speed with driving drums and shredding guitar work.
Rise To Ruin
The title track opens with a good bit of nicely timed drums, huge riffs and a brief solo — which is all quickly devoured by a crushing wave of doom. This one is dark with the pungent stench of death and despair layered thick on Koeijer’s vocals. There’s a nice industrial sludge infected solo at about the 2:20 mark.
The War On Stupidity
“The War on Stupidity” has some sickeningly evil riffs and funeral dirge drumming to set the bleak mood before the band let’s loose with a barrage of driving thrash. Angry vocals and pounding drums accompany menacing riffsh. This is an awesome, all out attack.
A Question Of Terror
Ambient sound clips and an oddly creepy vocal sample are swallowed whole with a huge grunt and riffing. There’s a nice melodic hook prior to the all encompassing death march that commences. This one is plodding and methodical in its attack. There are a few moments of sick soloing at the 3:40 mark that’ll leave your ears bleeding.
Babylon’s Whores
Weighing in at just over nine minutes in length, this opus starts off with thundering drums and driving riffs. Man, Koeijer’s are just devastating in his delivery. This track has some interesting song writing involved with it, shifting from full throttle to softly played guitar work with a bit of an ambient feel to it, prior to the band turning the amps up to 11 again. There are some monolithic riffs throughout this one.
“I’ve become obsolete. I am nothing. An acceptance of defeat. I am nothing”
Gorefest
“Surrealism”
Speak When Spoken To
Nasty riffs and pummeling drums keep the momentum from fading with this assault on the senses. The vocals have an extra bit of a violent feel to them with plenty of aggression. When Koeijer hits “Speak when spoken to” that just sort of stuck with me for a while after the song ended. He hit that lyric nicely.
A Grim Charade
Sludgy, doom filled riffs fade into chugging thrash goodness highlighted with some melodic guitar work. This song has all kinds of despair and sorrow oozing from all over. There’s a bit of a Celtic Frost “Dying God Coming into Human Flesh” feel to it — a nice change of pace from the rest of the album.
Murder Brigade
“Murder Brigade” brings back the driving drums and thrashing riffs. The chorus is pretty catchy and sticks with you for a while.
The End Of It All
“The End of it All” isn’t quite the end of the disc, but there is a nicely timed guitar and drum combination stretch through to the 1:30 mark when Koeijer’s vocals kick in with some insane drumming from Ed Warby. There is plenty of reasons to head bang on this one.
Surrealism
This one starts softly and slowly with dramatic and epic riffing. A groove filled drum and guitar combo pick the pace back up with the vocals. There is one sick ass solo at the 2:50 mark.
Dehumanization
The final track on this incredible disc is no less potent than the rest of the album. I love the opening riff — it’s catchy as hell. There are a good deal of tempo changes and shredding guitar work throughout this song.
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Gorefest have definitely ratcheted up the bar on doomy death metal with this release. “Rise to Ruin” is a prime example of heavy as fuck metal that’s meant to be played obnoxiously loud.
Favorite Tracks:
All of them
Additional Notes:
N/A