Review Summary: A very enjoyable piece of old-school death-metal. A mix of Obituary and Vader.
Gorefest is a dutch death metal band founded in 1989 and this is a review of their 1991 album Mindloss. At the time of recording the band was:
Jan-Chris De Koeijer - Bass/Vocals
Frank Harthoorn - Guitar
Alex van Schaik - Guitar
Marc Hoogendoorn - Drums
Sound/Performance:
I'll start with the vocals. These vocals are very good death growls (especially for something released in 1991) but lacks some more diversity, like an occasional high-pitched scream. The screams, that are also low-pitched growls, instead of being "arghh!" are mostly "right!" and "yeah!". It's honestly quite lame.
The rythm guitars are very tight and thick. Simplicity is a very strong element in the riff structure so fans of Tech. Death probably won't like it. The riffing reminds me a little bit of the first Cannibal Corpse album, and the album contains some very catchy and Headbang-inducing riffs. From mid-slow to semi-fast. The tempos aren't exactly extreme but it's a very heavy sound that comes out.
The leads differ a lot, sometimes they are slow and melodic, almost Iron Mained-esque, but other time they are dissonant shreds and squeals.
The bass is locked in with the guitars, and you can hear it if you listen to it. The bassline isn't only playing along with the guitars, although alot of it is, as you'd expect in death metal, and sometimes it creates harmonies to the guitars.
The drums aren't groundbreaking ,containing some of the slowest blastbeats I have heard, but they sound good and aren't mixed too loud. They are super-simple but super-tight.
Memorable songs:
Mental Misery:
This first song starts with some thrash assault but then goes into death/doom mode and has IMO the best guitar solo on the album. then the song ends fast again. This song has very good non-gore lyrics.
Confessions Of A Serial Killer:
Simply a great song with good lyrics, riffs and solos.
Loss Of Flesh:
Starts with a simple riff but the vocals kick into the verse really well. after a couple verse there are some nice riffs and the outro is great with the line shouted.
"I was born alive
Isn't that punishment enough?"
Followed by a crazy solo
Gorefest:
Kicks of with a great heavy riff and then goes into a dissonant interlude, then some deathrash madness begins. with some really gross lyrics. Then it goes into a slow heavy-as-hell interlude but ends back faster.
Pros:
Catchy riffs
Good productions
Solid performance
Guttural vocals
Cons:
Doesn't get very fast
Lack of vocal diversity
If you hate gore-lyrics, "Mental Misery" is the only one without them.
It isn't very memorable.
