Time Signature Nuclear vomit...

Genre: old school death metal

Straight out of the Kolbotn underground scene, Gouge offers up primitive death metal whose retro outlook latches on to very early death metal from when it was really a matter of thrash metal transitioning into death metal.

Thus, on this their debut EP, the Norwegians treat the listener to four raging tracks that fall somewhere between death-thrash and black-thrash and build on simple, but effective, riffage, some of which is more thrashy and some of which is more akin to early death metal. The very opening riff of the fierce death-thrasher 'Ritual of Gore' as well as the following track 'Evil Town of Mud' immediately tell us where this EP is heading. While the tracks on the EP build on primitive simplicity, Gouge have, true to the death metal ethos, inserted a number of changes and shifts into the songs, as heard in 'Nuclear Vomit' for instance, which also features some blastbeats and other figures elements that are similar to early grindcore. There is even a slightly crusty feel to the EP every now and then.

Gouge have opted for a lo-fi type of production which suits the primitive and aggressive music very well (and, well, have a look at the cover artwork, and you will immediately have guessed that we are dealing with primitive retro music here). It may take the modern ear some time to get used to the raw production, but once this adjustment has taken place, one should be able to enjoy the raw energy of the four tracks on this EP.

So, do no expect pristine modern sounding tech death metal, but if you are into authentic-sounding raw extreme metal which look back to the beginnings of this branch of the metal family tree, then Gorge's aptly titled "Doomed to Death" is definitely worth investing in.