Gaunt - Demo

Spiraling through impious segments of corruption and disharmony, England’s Gaunt present us three smothering tracks of raw and primitive black metal. Gaunt’s immediate surge is absolutely sudden to all, as the acolytes drill their way silently towards the light of the day, and in the end, they are somehow triumphant from the unknown battle that was ongoing in the underground, thus, their presence is finally illuminated. Bedecking the raw and primal textures of gritty black metal with both atmospheric and noisy touches, Gaunt spew out some of the finest black metal the year has offered yet, and maintain their grip by impetuously pursue the listener without flaunting or showing off any cleansed skills, but simply greet him/her with an absolutely smothering barrage of abrasive spikes.

Gaunt are sometimes predictable, and totally direct, angular, yet they’re sometimes awry and tangling, sending fibrous waves of cunning black metal tremolos and razor sharp slashes within the entire duration of the album, without exerting much effort in the process. The riffs are the definition of raw, unpolished and croaky, but as much as they’re vicious and ripping, they also possess an atmospheric touch, adding melancholy to the savage outburst.  To point out direct influences would be wrong, because there’s a little bit of everything on Gaunt’s debut demo, so the only thing appropriate to say is that the music will certainly not seem alien to many resident black metallers, but rather primitive, and even (I daresay) amateur-sounding, but then again the whole point of its angular incursions is to give the listener a little taste of that. The guitars are spread sparse, and for some queer reason, the drums and vocals sound even sharper than the guitar tone.

Each song is a relevant follow-up to its predecessor, each maintaining the perfect position between atmospheric and raw, but with the whole demo going for a mere twelve minutes, intriguing links in between songs are not likely to affect much. Oddly, Gaunt sounds rather organic to me, which probably makes a huge difference and separates it from many other acts, and their coarse jumble of rough riffs and crude patterns certainly impressed me. I can just hope that the underground breeds more of Gaunt’s kind and shares them with us. I devoutly hope so. 

Highlights:

Under The Sun Of Torture

Ministry Of Reconstruction

The One In The Void

Rating: 84,5%