Reviews list for Gaza - No Absolutes in Human Suffering (2012)

The previous album by Gaza, He Is Never Coming Back, has been described as a tackle through "humanity's primitive religiousness". This time around, the band wanted to make another album that would level up the neck-snapping, skull-shaking, head-bleeding sound of their grind-ish mathcore/sludge metal. As intense and colorful-worded as their third and final album, No Absolutes in Human Suffering, can be, it still doesn't reach the greatness of the band's debut...

It's still fun though, balancing melody with chaos. With Converge guitarist Kurt Ballou onboard in production, the grind/crust/core elements have denser prominence than before. Call this "prog-ish crusty mathcore" if you will! There are many intense switches from noise to rock, all in warp speed.

"Mostly Hair and Bones Now" opens with a post-drone intro through the first third of the track, then explodes into intense grind-mathcore. "This We Celebrate" shows their more experimental side. "The Truth Weighs Nothing" has an annihilating blend of classic and experimental metallic hardcore that I can hear from the earlier albums of Architects, Eighteen Visions, and Vision of Disorder. "Not With All the Hope in the World" starts off as a mathcore blur, but ultimately evolves into beautiful sludge.

"The Vipers" unleashes a lot more of the noise-grind elements, alongside some melody and a mid-paced breakdown. Absolutely dexterous mathcore violence there! The mid-paced title track shows some muscle in the band's talent. "The Crown" throws back to the sound from their debut while adding in the early Architects-like experimentation.

They slip a bit in "When They Beg" with its sudden switch to post-prog-ish soloing. "Winter in Her Blood" adds a bit of extreme djent-core not too far from Veil of Maya at that time. Breaking the cycle in the sound and lyrics is "Skull Trophy", throwing in some jazzy breakdowns and talking about some "hillbilly sh*t" (yes that's in the lyrics). "Routine and Then Death" is a relentless doomy swansong for the band's career. "It's the same noise every day, we walk back and forth".

Gaza ended up splitting up due to abuse allegations involving vocalist Jon Parkin. The 3 remaining members formed a new band, Cult Leader. Despite that drama, Gaza's material is enjoyable for the beautiful chaos of grind-ish mathcore/sludge metal. Those 3 band members' journey isn't over, only starting a different chapter after this one.....

Favorites: "Mostly Hair and Bones Now", "The Truth Weighs Nothing", "The Vipers", "The Crown", "Winter in Her Blood", "Routine and Then Death"