[UPDATE, 5:41pm EST: The new Gorod album will be called A Perfect Absolution. Check out the sick cover art at No Clean Singing.]

Original Post:

I hereby posit that Psycroptic, Spawn of Possesion, Obscura and Gorod are the four best tech-death bands in the world — THE BIG FOUR of tech-death — fight me on that claim if you dare. This year is shaping up to be an incredible year for top-notch tech-death, as three of those bands are poised to release new records in the first half of 2012. Psycroptic and Spawn of Possession have new albums coming out on February 7th and March 13th, respectively, and it appears if the wily Frenchmen in Gorod will have an album out very soon too. Get excitebike!

So, Gorod: they’ve re-signed with Listenable Records and they’re already recording a new album which will supposedly come out in March (though I won’t be surprised if that date is pushed back). They’ve released two studio updates so far, and unlike the videos some bands post consisting of nothing but dudes whacking about, these are both loaded with samples of new music! Watch and listen:

Click to read more…

The Transcendence EP Gorod released earlier this year is really fucking good, you guys. I haven’t seen a ton of praise for it either here or elsewhere on the Interhole, which is probably because it contains only one completely new track (along with some reimagined songs from the band’s catalogue). But that one track, from which the EP takes its name, is an absolute doozy! It highlights everything that put Gorod firmly atop the crowded tech-death pack, right up there along with Obscura as masters of both technicality and songcraft.

All this a somewhat roundabout way of saying I was incredibly stoked this morning to see a press release directly from the band announcing that they’ve Gojira aren’t the only French metal band working on new music; Gorod began recording their new album TODAY with producer “Elmobo” and guitarist Mat Pascal. It’ll be the first full-length since 2009′s Process of a New Decline, which ranked among my year-end favorites. Get excitebike. Get very, very excitebike.

-VN

So, to review the ways in bass players let us down this week:

• Coheed and Cambria’s Michael Todd robbed a pharmacy.
• Nick Oliveri from Queens of the Stone Age/Kyuss held his girlfriend hostage in a four-hour standoff with a S.W.A.T. team.
• Jeroen Paul Thessling quit Obscura.

Anyone who got their hands on Gorod’s new EP Transcendence had to attend the band’s May 23rd show in Paris, which left the entire world outside of a couple of hundred people shit out of luck. Until now; MetalSucks is incredibly pleased to present to our readers Transcendence in full, right here, right now!

The EP includes three of the band’s classic songs “re-worked” into new versions, a cover of Cynic’s “Textures,” and the self-titled pièce de résistance, an epic, brand new 15-minute long Gorod song.

Stream Transcendence now ’cause we’re only gonna have it up here for a few days. Make sure you order your very own copy at Gorod’s webstore.

[this streaming promotion has ended]

Gorod’s self-released Transcendence EP is out now; that is, only if you’re one of the lucky folks who attended their May 23rd show in Paris, the first and only place it was available. If you’re a regular sucker like the rest of us you’ll have to wait until the band gets it up on iTunes and other digital retailers, which they promise will happen “later on this year.”

But the band has just released a video trailer containing clips of every song on the EP matched with descriptions of what those songs all represent. Here’s the guide to the EP’s tracks that the band released a few weeks back, including some re-recorded older songs, a Cynic cover,and a brand new song:

Click to read more…

Remember that EP that Gorod announced they were working on over 16 months ago that was supposed to include a 14-minute long epic and a Cynic cover? Yeah, I’d forgotten too. But according to an email from Gorod guitarist Mathieu Pascal that the MS Mansion Monkeys just printed out, couriered over to the Vince Division and are jumping up and down “ahhh ahhhh ahhhhh!”-ing whilst waving it in my face, Gorod are finally releasing that EP, called Transcendence… on their own.

What is wrong with the world that Gorod can’t get a record deal? Do previous labels Willowtip and Listenable not realize that this band’s popularity has exploded since their last release, 2009′s mind-melting Process of a New Decline? Whatevs… we get new Gorod music, so who gives an eff? Here’s Pascal:

“Transcendence” will only be available at the band shows and on the forthcoming Gorod online shop (june 2011)… the EP will hit iTunes later on this year…

Gorod ultimate fans will be pleased to know that the EP will be available from may 23 at the Paris show (Glazart) on this European Invasion Tour !!

This new sound, that shows 45′ of Gorod’s universe [I think this means "45 minutes." -Ed.] and new way of musical approach, marks the end of the SciFi story started with “Neurotripsicks” and that led “Leading Vision” and “Process Of A New Decline”…. End of an era…

After the jump, check the tracklisting (including the Cynic cover):

Click to read more…

We’ve been super-duper-uper excited for the new EP that French tech metallers Gorod have been promising would be released this year. So excited that we’ve even been posting studio vids of the guys laying down their tracks, which is something we don’t often do… but the tunes sounded so killer we couldn’t resist.

But now all that is in jeopardy. According to SMN News, Gorod posted a note (in French) on their official forum on June 25th stating that frontman Guillaume Martino and guitarist Arnaud Pontaco have left the band. Ruh roh. The timing strikes us as especially odd since we’ve already seen footage of the band recording the EP (albeit we haven’t seen vocal tracks being laid down). Far be it from us to recklessly speculate — ah, who are we kidding, of course we’re gonna recklessly speculate — but this doesn’t exactly strike me as the kind of split that was amicable. Someone wasn’t getting along with someone else and sides were taken, or someone fucked someone’s girlfriend or punched the other dude in the nuts; in other words, something very bad happened.

It’s worth noting though that the announcement actually came almost two weeks before Gorod posted their last studio video, so presumably the remaining members are still pushing ahead. I don’t know enough about the inner-workings of Gorod to say whether the two men who left were important members to the band’s sound, but we can only hope they get this situation figured out soon. We need to hear that new EP!

-VN

It’s funny how two different sets of human ears can hear the exact same thing and their associated brains can interpret the sounds so completely differently. Our favorite MS troll Ziltoid once commented that he couldn’t stand Gorod even more than he couldn’t stand all the other “weedily weedily” tech-death bands, claiming they had no grasp on melody whatsoever. Meanwhile, both Axl and myself (and many others I’ve talked to and read) are in agreement that Gorod are at the very top of the tech-death pack precisely because they’ve got such a great handle on melody without sacrificing their technicality or deathiness. Diff’rent strokes, I s’pose.

In case ya haven’t heard, Gorod have promised a new EP in 2010 featuring, among other songs, a 14-minute epic and a Cynic cover. In April they posted some studio video footage of the drums being recorded, and they’ve just posted a similar clip of the guitar tracking process, embedded above. Never have my balls tingled this much for an acoustic tech-death song, but man, how can any self-respecting metal fan not be excited about this EP? It’s gonna be the bees knees.

-VN

Thanks: Pascal Baseprod

French tech-metallers Gorod have been teasing the Interwebs for months now with promises of a new EP in 2010 that will include a cover of Cynic’s “Textures”, a 14-minute long new song, an acoustic track and two re-recorded songs from the band’s first two albums. Gorod are that rare band who, as Axl put it, “can combine tech-y goodness with such melodious songwriting hooks,” and we’re huge fans of ‘em here at the Mansion. Process of a New Decline ranked high on the 2009 year-end lists of both myself and Bob Cock. So we’re, like, really really excited for this EP. That we get new Gorod music only a year after they released a full album is a-ok with us.

Over the weekend we got yet another tease, this time in the form of a studio video that shows drummer Sam Santiago playing along with what we can only assume is the new 14-minute track. And yeah, it sounds incredible! Can’t wait.

-VN

I’m not generally a fan of covers unless it’s something kinda outside the box and the band puts their own spin on it, but I am a fan of Gorod and a fan of Cynic, so it’s hard for me to pass harsh judgment on the French prog-metallers cover of Cynic’s “Textures.” It’s hubris of anyone to even dream of living up to the original, but if it exposes any new fans to Cynic, well, neat. You can stream the track here.

Gorod announced back in January that they were working on a new EP which would include one unspecified cover; I’m assuming this is it. Still don’t know a release date for that EP, although I’m assuming if the band is posting music on their MySpace, it has to lay just over the horizon.

-AR

In case ya didn’t know, we’re big Gorod fans here at the MetalSucks Mansion. Rare is the band that can combine tech-y goodness with such melodious songwriting hooks, but there have it. Gorod r00lz.

So we were excited to read on Blabbermouth that the band is working on a new EP. But even more exciting is the description of what’s going to be on said EP:

Click to read more…

It’s been great getting to meet some of our readers over these past few years. There are few things more gratifying than putting a face with a name and seeing that someone really actually does a give a shit about what we’re doing here at MetalSucks. I mean, I know we’re not curing cancer, but finding new and inventive ways to insult people is challenging, y’know?

And while Parker Werley is one reader I’ve never met, if I ever do, I am going to buy the dude a beer or ten, or get him really high, or both. Because he introduced me to Son of Aurelius. And Son of Aurelius are AWESOME.

Click to read more…

I barely remember the lost weekend I once spent in Baltimore. Was I bored, or just doing what I do? I dunno. I dunno.

Looks like I might be going back, though: D.R.I. have been added to the already stellar line-up of the 2010 edition of Maryland Deathfest. This is just the latest in a long line of good reasons to attend, not least of which is that it is, at least as far as I’m aware, currently the only scheduled U.S. appearance of Australia’s Portal, whose new album Swarth is currently frightening metalheads across the world. Throw in Converge, Magrudergrind, Entombed, Obituary, Watain, Melechesh, Jucifer, Gridlink, Gorod, 16, and a plethora of other awesome bands, and I think I could have a weekend in Baltimore even more lost than my last.

Get Maryland Deathfest’s complete line-up-to-date after the jump.

Click to read more…

Oh Anso, you so silly with your band acronyms. You also so dead-on with your praise of One Man Army and the Undead Quartet. Like Stratovarius, 1MA+U4 are one of those bands whose name constantly graces Blabbermouth headlines but to whom I’ve never actually listened. How could that be given they’re fronted by ex-The Crown singer Johan Lindstrom? I do not know.

On a complete unrelated note in the same article, Anso (who’s also an MS contributor, you ninnies) chimes in with this truth about French tech-deathsters Gorod (whose 2009 album Process of a New Decline we’ve praised endlessly here on MS):

I learned that in Gorod, technical metal is being wrested away from clever East Coast hipsters and back into the domain of heshers thank you Europe. Like any good pursuit, it is improving itself and less and less frequently being comprised of five guys wanking in unison.

I <3 Anso.

Hugz,
VN

Italian experimental metallers Carnal Rapture sent us their latest 5-song EP several months ago, and though I only just got to listen to it recently… HOLY SHIT!

The first good sign was the design of the CD itself: one side is completely silver and one side is completely black (but not silkscreened — the plastic is actually black). After inserting the CD into my computer silver-side down as I would most CDs, my computer spit that shit right back out at me. Having the black side be the side with the audio on it? METAL!

But most importantly, Carnal Rapture’s style of metal is like nothing I’ve ever heard before. Seriously. And you know we hear a LOT of shit (I mean that in both senses of the word “shit”) here at the MS Mansion. Carnal Rapture certainly take inlfluence from progressive extreme metal bands like Cynic and Gorguts, but theirs is a much more modern, refined, completely new, and yes, much heavier sound. And while their music is certainly “technical” to be sure, it doesn’t veer anywhere near the modern tech-death “weedily weedily” fests that newer bands like Gorod and Obscura peddle (I love these bands too, but I’m just sayin’). Carnal Rapture take things way more in a decidedly jazzy direction… heavy as fuck jazz, naturally. The only current band I’d even moderately liken them to would be Intronaut, specifically that band’s early material. This is music that’s heavy, heady, progressive, technical, jazzy, artful, concise… pretty much everything I look for in a new band.

So upon opening and listening to this stellar gem of a record, I emailed the band’s vocalist and guitarist Emilio Trillo to ask his permission to post a track. Here it is, “Precious Time,” the EP’s opening number. I hope you like it as much as I do. If you’d like to hear more, visit Carnal Rapture on MySpace.

Carnal Rapture – “Precious Time”

-VN

Literally, inside a steel box — with no ventilation at all. That’s what French tech-death masters Gorod (over whom we’ve gushed many times on these pages) are doing at Evento 2009, a 2-day art event taking place in Bordeaux, France on October 18th and 19th. Reports Ballsinmouth:

Gorod will perform inside Portuguese artist João Onofre’s “Box Sized Die” installation, a soundproof, steel-walled cube, an homage to Tony Smith’s DIE, an icon of American sculpture dating from 1962. At the beginning of the performance, they will play with the door open (normal concert volume level). Then the door will be shut and nothing more will be heard outside. As the cube has no ventilation, the concert will last at most 14 minutes, after which the exhausted band will open the door again.

That’s pretty awesome, but also kind of petrifying. The picture you see above is of the band Darkmoon performing inside the very same box at last year’s event; I’d be scared as fuck of dying of asphyxiation inside a box that size, whatwith 4 other dudes fighting for the same oxygen as I am for 14 fucking minutes. Although, if things go awry, we’d end up with fodder for the most metal death ever; THAT would be performance art.

If you haven’t checked out Gorod‘s excellent Process of a New Decline released earlier this year, get on that shit. You’re missing out.

-VN

It’s been a doozy of a year for metal releases already, hasn’t it?

After the jump, the records I’ve been jamming the most so far that might or might not end up on my year-end Top 10.

Click to read more…

Lazy journalism comparisons to Gojira be damned, there is some damn fine metal coming out of France these days. Whether or not that has anything to do with Gojira laying the groundwork for French bands to gain wider recognition in America is up for debate, but the facts are the facts: good metal = happy Vince.

• Gorod: I’ve chronicled my love of this band in this space before. If you like tech-death firestorms, you oughtta check this band out; their new record Process of a New Decline is a juicy, explosion of head-dizzying technical death metal.
• Hacride: More in the progressive/Opethian veign of the death metal spectrum, Hacride blend Meshuggian groove with the melody and aggression of the aforementioned Swedish death metal kings. Their new album Lazarus is available now.
• Eryn Non Dae: END.’s is certainly influenced by Meshuggah as well, but theirs is a more raw, visceral, dissonant, groove-laden take on what Hacride do. Axl just posted a trippy video of theirs last week which you should check out.

So that’s that. Get your France on.

-VN

Back in March we reported that French tech-metallers Gorod had released a new song from their forthcoming Listenable Records album Process Of A New Decline, and that said song was ridiculously awesome. Gorod have just posted another new song on their MySpace page entitled “Programmers Of Decline,” an equally orgasm-inducing nugget of progressive tech-death that makes my dick hard in anticipation of the new record (for which no official release date has been announced). The new song is five solid minutes of techy, deathy, shreddy goodness; while I listen, I’m fantasizing about a utopian U.S. tour dream lineup featuring Obscura, Psycroptic, Arsis, The Faceless and Gorod. Never gonna happen, right?

-VN

MS Maniac Tiagon sent us a link to a new track by the French “mighty shredketeers” (his words) Gorod. I’d never listened to Gorod before, but the “shredketeer” classification certainly seems apt and I highly approve. Gorod play the kind of progressive / technical death metal peddled by bands like Arsis, Obscura and Psycroptic; aka they’re fucking awesome. Do yourself a favor and go listen to their new song “Disavow Your God” on their MySpace page right now. The band expects to have an album out this summer on Willowtip.

-VN