Luc Lemay « The RingMaster Review

Eighteen years after its release, Reign of Lunacy the one and only album so far from Canadian death metallers Gorelust, gets its reissue through PRC Music whose owner also incidentally gave the album its first appearance. With a proposed new release planned for late 2013, the re-release from one of the most impressive bands of the Quebec death metal scene will be a welcome treat for all fans of the genre, especially those leaning towards the sounds of Suffocation, Mortuary, and Monstrosity.

Regarded as one of the best live bands of their time, the young Quebec band disbanded within the year of the release of Reign Of Lunacy in 1995. The release itself was limited to 1000 units when released by New World Symphony Records and has since changed hands at amounts leading up to $100 a time as well as getting bootlegged by Cryptic Soul Productions in Italy. The true re-release will thrill a legion of death metal fans wanting to own a copy of an album which should be regarded as a classic, and with the recent announcement of the return of the original line-up to finally make a follow-up album next year, you can only expect an eager devouring of Reign Of Lunacy this time around.

The album has been dedicated to Steeve Hurdle of Gorguts who sadly passed away earlier this year and who alongside band mate Luc Lemay at the time, contributed backing vocals to Reign Of Lunacy. The album is a raw and brutal exercise for the senses, a merciless assault of technical and uncompromising death metal brought by the combined might of vocalist Jean Beaulieu, guitarist Martin Fournier, bassist Pascal Chevrier, and Francis Marmen on drums.

From the staggering first track right through to the closing violation Infant Devourment, the album is an insidious capture of the imagination and passions, an extreme metal corruption which you eagerly welcome. The release sounds just as fresh as it did back in the day which is impressive with the spoiling of digital technology since. The track Gorelust opens things up and has the senses drooling with its towering vicious rhythms driving that delicious raptorial bass of Chevrier and the scorching imagination and flesh searing sonics of the guitar from Fournier, their union irresistible as they twist and damage the synapses. The vocals of Beaulieu are unreservedly intimidating and stand as one of the most formidable when placed in the company of other great malicious vocalists which graced the genre then and since.

As tracks like the spiteful Abhorence Beyond Repugnance and rabid Sclerosed Brain Eater infest, the album declares itself as still a measure new bands should become acquainted with when looking for an inventive yet debilitating presence. It is impossible not to feel a little saddened that the band never managed to remain intact, the sounds and might which may have come our way, but with the proposed Gorelust release of next year excitement reigns over the past.

For any genre fan yet to be touched by Gorelust, being churned up and molested by the nasty malevolence provided by the title track and Indigestible Human Remains, let alone the cell invading venom of Anthropophagist, is going to not only be an well overdue surprise but a primal devastating treat which will shape their tastes and preferences. Reign of Lunacy is one of the true death metal classics and a must have for all genre and extreme metal fans. It is the time to become acquainted or reintroduced to one of the greats well in time for what will be their highly anticipated return.

https://www.facebook.com/gorelustband

Ring Master 03/12/2012

Arguably like a blob fish, an ugly baby, or Shane MacGowan, the beauty within the self titled EP from technical death metalers Negativa, is one which only a mother can see and love. Well her and those of us who find discord and chaotic imagination the only truly fresh thing in music today. The release really is a thing of beauty, a corrupted and disfigured beauty for sure, but still something starkly beautiful and intrusively stirring.

The three track EP first came out in 2006 as a limited release of 1000 copies, making physical copies highly sought after and near impossible to find. Now re-released through PRC Music, the release shows the band not only ahead of their time but probably still streets ahead of what mass consumption is ready for.

The Canadian band was formed by guitarist/ vocalist Steeve Hurdle (Gorguts ,Purulence)and guitarist/ vocalist Luc Lemay(Gorguts). The EP also sees drummer Etienne Gallo (Augury, Neuraxis, Aborted) and bassist Miguel Valade (Ion Dissonnance) bringing their distinct imagination and skills to the canvas that was Negativa. The music the quartet spawn is staggering and in just a trio of tracks leaves most other bands struggling to match ideas let alone their realisation. The band since the original release of the EP has seen line-up changes with Lemay one to leave, but all things found true perspective with the passing away of Steeve Hurdle in May of this year aged 41. The release is an impactful and impressive aural monument to Hurdle and the band which leaves a saddened pleasure to its colossal magnificence.

Opener Chaos In Motion preys on the senses immediately with crippling scythes of guitar dishing out blistering destructive discordance. With rhythms from Gallo expelling the breath from the body through its vicious and disorientating attack and vocals as abrasive as high grade sand paper upon the ear, the track is an immoral and delicious sonic cluster bomb of intent and originality. Though a completely different genre the track takes one back to bands like The Fire Engines and Diagram Brothers from the eighties, two more who use discord as a full ingredient , exploring its textures and properties. Negativa go much further igniting its life and shadows with a madness of creativity which envelopes and challenges every synapse and a power which is equally demented and far reaching .

The following epic Thedium Vitae is a monster of a track. It crawls and prowls all over the body disrupting all senses, thoughts, and emotions. The track throws a spanner into rational thought and emotional safety to confound and cripple sanity during its venomous mesmeric assault. From its consuming energy the track intensifies into a brawling clash of rhythms, riffs, and indecipherable but wholly contagious scarred notes. The track is ever evolving, a seemingly maniacal improvisation, but all is perfectly and ingeniously structured to singe and scorch deeply with intense thought and imaginative creative malice the conjurors. The sounds and release as a whole, is a nightmare in sonic form giving no escape and perpetually incessant in its intent, and most of all simply blackened annihilatory beauty.

Closing with the slightly jazzy Rebellion, if that term can be applied to sounds which almost defy description, the release is incredible. This song treads and ultimately stomps over the debris already left in the wake of its conspirators to unleash its own dazzling and dehabilitating majesty. The EP is confrontational and inspiring, ruinous and so refreshing, and without doubt one of the most impressive things heard in a long time. Thank goodness there has been another and for some of us a first chance, to enjoy its towering brilliance.

Negativa is tagged as progressive death metal primarily but this goes far beyond that to have its own unique stature and world. As stated earlier the kind of references and comparisons which come to mind are far from being death metal bands, those earlier unique sounds added to by at a push the likes of Kunz, Coilguns and Dope Body, maybe even Morkobot to try and give some idea of the genius at play on the EP, but it is something distinctly different and special. If you want something to bring back the thrill, danger, and menace which has been generally lost in music, then go and let Negativa do their glorious worst.

RingMaster 15/08/2012