Review Summary: A masterpiece in every way.
Colored Sands, released a full decade ago now, is a truly colossal achievement. Gorguts had long been regarded as masters of their craft, weaving dense intricate riffing into slithering, twisting cacophonies that should, by all logic, fail to please, and yet transcends these expectations to become true brilliance. Their first two albums were remarkably technical for their time, with two completely independent guitar tracks and some wonderful drumming, but it was 98's Obscura that rewrote the rulebook for how to play technical death metal. Ludicrously experimental, outrageously dissonant, and absolutely remarkable in its composition, Obscura excels as much today as it did upon release, and its follow-up From Wisdom To Hate almost achieved the same levels of mastery. Technical death metal was a totally different landscape in 2013 to 1998, with Necrophagist arguably having ushered in the age of reliance upon advanced techniques rather than the unforced, naturally challenging listens of bands like Gorguts, and so to hear the band return in such stellar form was something to behold.
Colored Sands sounds absolutely nothing like any of their previous works individually, yet siphons aspects of each to blend them into a chaotic and progressive album as bombastic as anything they had released previously. Opening track Le Toit Du Monde is a flawlessly executed piece, shifting erratically from calm verses into an absolutely crushing chorus for the first half of the song, whilst the second half has build ups and payoffs reminiscent of the last third of the title track from Obscura. The beatdowns offered by the blasts are additive to the mesmerizing heaviness of the guitar onslaught, with frontman Luc Lemay once again refusing to settle for anything less than perfection. His guitar riffs are atonal and sinister, whilst his howls have a desperation and urgency that completely fits the Tibetan theme of the record. Everything on this album is crystal clear, allowing the unsettling nature of the progressions found in the opening of the title track to impress every bit as much as the boundless brutality of closing song Reduced To Silence. A true visionary, Luc wrote every song to have its own distinct identity, and so it is easy to recall moments from each that stands alone, peerless, without much effort. The titanic nine-minute epic Absconders contains a chorus riff that floors me upon every listen, Forgotten Arrows opens with a phenomenally executed guitar line that can be split into three separate sections before fading into a contemplative slower riff backed by awesome double bass drumming, and Enemies Of Compassion utilizes a higher register for some of its riffing to hypnotize the listener, allowing the breaks to stand out in ways that few bands could hope to accomplish.
Colored Sands was a flawless return to form from one of the most remarkable and different bands in their genre, showcasing that technical music need not be centred around sweeps and playing at 300bpm. This is an achievement worth celebrating, and if this were to be the band's final full length outing then it would be fitting and perfect, yet Luc has announced a further entry into Gorguts' discography and so we must await with bated breath.
