The Gorge – Mechanical Fiction
Release Date: 28th July 2023
Label: Pelagic Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Progressive Sludge
FFO: Botch, Mastodon, Animals as Leaders, Intronaut.
Review By: Paul Franklin
St. Louis-based progressive metal outfit The Gorge consists of four jazz musicians who use the project as a creative outlet to share their love of complex and heavy music. Mechanical Fiction is their third full-length release, a collection of eight tracks that straddles a wide range of musical influences from the twitchy mathcore of opener Synapse Misfire, which sounds like having your balls gently tickled whilst simultaneously being smashed in the face with a brick, to the heavy groove and haunting atmosphere of the longer Remnants of Grief, or Wraith.
“Mechanical Friction refers to the mundane ways in which we proceed through our lives” explains guitarist/vocalist Phil Ring, “..go(ing) through the motions, telling ourselves everything is okay.” The quartet certainly don’t go through motions when it comes to creating their music, blistering blast beats compete with huge sludgy riffs to see which can do more damage to your neck muscles, whereas low-key ‘jazzy’ mid-sections and some impressive virtuoso soloing lift the mood.
If there is a criticism, it would be that the vocals are a bit too uniform. Phil has a huge baritone growl that well suits the sludgy moments, and when used sparingly for maximum impact (for example to hammer home the desolation felt at the end of Earthly Decay) they really hit the mark. However, with the sheer variety and diversity of the music, it seems a shame that the vocals couldn’t also offer a bit of the same. Tantalizingly, there is a glimpse of what could be at the climax of the rumbling Beneath The Crust, where we get a glorious choir raising their voices to hail the sunrise, before we sink back into the gorge.
(3.5 / 5)
