Review by Shadowdoom9 (Andi) for Gulch - Impenetrable Cerebral Fortress (2020)

As much as I love metalcore, I have a bit of an issue with its hardcore cousin and death metal's sibling in the Horde family, grindcore. I'm sure many of you Horde members know what grindcore, but basically the songs are mostly under two minutes long (often even shorter) and are filled with the noise of heavily distorted guitars, bass in max-overdrive, high-speed drums, and wide-range growls/screams. Some of those elements can be found quite a lot in this album's sound, especially since only two of its songs surpass the two-minute mark. See, I wanna go hardcore but not too much to the point where it's equivalent to extra-spicy habanero peppers.

The chaos begins with the title track which is definitely an absolutely killer grind-metalcore opener. "Cries of Pleasure, Heavenly Pain" is an OK song that can please me with heavenly heavy grind-metalcore pleasure. You're probably wondering, "Looks like you're praising some of the songs so far, what the h*ll are you complaining about?!" Well stay in your seats, because the chaos gets much spicier. "Self-Inflicted Mental Terror" is a song that fits well with the title. It sounds too much like it was written by a mentally ill terrorist. "Lie, Deny, Sanctify" is definitely something that can be taken seriously, only to cause a rioting revolution. Keep it away from the children!!

And definitely keep this next song out of children's reach, "F***ing Towards Salvation", not just because of the title but also it's so f***ing intense and "slanderous" that I'm pretty sure Tipper Gore would faint after hearing it. "All Fall Down the Well" is pretty much a death(grind)trap for the well Timmy is trapped in. "Shallow Reflective Pools of Guilt" is just too shallow. And finally, "Sin in My Heart" is a longer closing song that reminds of the earlier Converge in a nice way. I like that!

Impenetrable Cerebral Fortress is a beyond intense grind-metalcore album that even I can't handle. This album is strange in the intensity of sound and also the cover artwork. Maybe it would be slightly better if all the songs were put together in a 16-minute suite. Either way, I'll just redirect this album to people who like both grindcore and non-melodic metalcore. They might enjoy this extra-spicy habanero hardcore chaos....

Favorites: "Impenetrable Cerebral Fortress", "Sin in My Heart"