Gurkkhas
A Life Of Suffering

There are two types of monikers that generally have the same effect on me as Vape does on mosquitoes, those that are too gory or too strange. When I picked up this album, I was more than skeptical, perhaps more due to a question of resemblance than anything else, and I expected something similar to what was done by the already-reviewed Mithras. But as the wise owls say, the habit does not make the monk (in this case, the name does not make the foolish band), this album deserves a lot. First of all, the introductions: even though none of you may be wondering who is behind this absurd nickname, I want to tell you that it's four Frenchmen who have been playing since before 1995, the year their first full-length came out, and who have to their credit a myriad of nearly unobtainable EPs. Naturally, it took them a while to find a label that wouldn't go bankrupt within two weeks, and the first acceptable results begin to appear (or rather be heard) after 2000, just before the contract with Morbid Records. And here they are, a year later, releasing this "A Life Of Suffering", clearly more mature than their previous works.

The bands that contributed to the formation of these guys' style are numerous, mainly belonging to the early '90s American scene. Among the most noticeable influences, it's impossible not to mention that of Immolation, from whom they take the desolate and apocalyptic mood, but also Incantation (for the tendency to alternate fast parts with others clearly rooted in Doom), Deicide, and Malevolent Creation. As for the technical level, the French quartet can easily be compared to the groups listed above: their skill is very high, although it doesn't reach the peaks attained by newer bands (Disgorge, just to name one) or some great names from the recent past (Deeds Of Flesh, Cryptopsy, Gorguts and many more). So, the offering is quite canonical, and from a strictly musical standpoint, it doesn't hold many surprises. The drumming is powerful and precise but, except for the numerous "stop and go", it is fairly straightforward, drawn almost entirely from the glorious past of U.S. Death Metal. Almost the same can be said for the guitar parts, proportionally more difficult to execute than those of the drums; the riffs chase each other more or less quickly, constantly balancing between the most ruthless energy and an incredible power. There are few solos, but many destructive passages, although not all are spot-on and sometimes repeated too many times within the same song. There is also little room for the bass, which nevertheless makes itself heard excellently and makes the sound infinitely round and "blunt". In this regard, it is worth mentioning the production, simply perfect for a record of this kind, with just enough retro to give the CD that magic you feel when listening to the earliest Death records and modern enough to make the sound clear.

The peculiarity of Gurrkhas, however, does not reside in the name (which I understand is that of an elite WWII corps), nor in the technique nor in the songwriting: their sound and mood, however, have few equals and manage to best express that sense of death and anguishing hatred that, willingly or not, everyone feels is inherent in the world and man. And this, dear sirs, is Death Metal as it should be, not a circus of horror movie idiocies, but a way of voicing this evil atomized on the skin, in the air, in the mind. Every slowdown is a sledgehammer blow that crystallizes the gaze in the void, makes one silently grit their teeth, making them partake in those foggy cries that come from the singer's and bassist's throats.

The title of the album says a lot about its content; "A Life Of Suffering" is the expression of a terrible feeling, the feeling of bitterness towards life.

Few bands manage or have managed to express so much; among them certainly the early Skinless, Immolation, Suffocation of "Effigy Of The Forgotten", and the semi-unknown Demigod; whoever is not afraid of the emotional repercussions of "a life of suffering" step forward.