Gutsaw – All Lives Splatter (EP)
Release Date: 30th September 2022
Label: Self Released
Bandcamp
Genre: Technical Death Grind
FFO: Devourment, Aborted, Dying Fetus, Benighted, Exhumed.
Review By: Rick Farley
Hailing from Corona, California, Gutsaw is a technical death grind trio, throwing down viciously on their newest EP All lives Splatter. The band was horrendously birthed in 2003 comprised of Necro Nick on guitar/vocals and Dave Ingrate on bass/vocals. Recent addition in 2022 on drums/vocals is Mark Rivas. All three members growl, squeal, grunt, and vomit up vile sounding vocals that adds a ton of extra personality to their unique blend of brutality. Gutsaw has a technical sound that mixes grind, death, black and punk to push the boundaries of gore and extreme metal to their beastly limits. The band has been shredding and grinding for two decades and look to continue their ambitious musical carnage for all you ravenous little savages.
Lyrically and thematically the band addresses, zombies, murder, serial killers, and merciless destruction. Blood, innards, and the stench of the cemetery at night fuel this nightmare. You know, wholesome stuff that make your skin crawl and neck hair raise up. Vocally the gutturals are low and throaty, the pig squeals nasally high-pitched, and the screams are violent bursts of raspy aggression, all becoming a key element in the overall ferocity of this EP. I’m not sure which member is doing what, but it all works together like a pack of gurgling zombies ready to feast.
Musically, this is a brutish mix of guitar squawks, crunchy, grindy slam style catchiness and unique shreddy melodies. Extremely heavy and fast, the riffs go back and forth between crushing and technical while maintaining sheer force. The drums viciously blast and keep an enraged pace of imposing fills and utter chaos, continuously beating you over the head. The twangy bass is dense underneath, occasionally rearing its ugly head out in the open to batter something. Primal and relentless in their delivery, Gutsaw is harsh as fuck to the very core.
All lives Splatter, being an EP, clocks in at a little over eleven minutes. Seven songs with numerous samples and sound bites scattered throughout. All standard stuff that’s befitting of the raging soundscape; drugs, killing, total annihilation of the human race. Just more warmth and happiness for everyone to digest. The production sounds a little muddy when everything is firing together, which in turn amps up the beefiness, but the guitar riffs are hard to decipher at times and could have had much better clarity. Depending on how you look at it, though, this honestly might make it sound a little more heavy at its most chaotic. Not necessarily a complete negative. Unfortunately, while the music is infectious and utterly brutal, this is only an eleven-minute EP. Not a lot to go on or review for that matter. Gutsaw is definitely a talented band and have potential to be a major player in the extreme metal world, but for now, let’s just enjoy these eleven minutes of relentless bludgeoning. 
(3 / 5)
