Review by Saxy S for Gulch - Impenetrable Cerebral Fortress (2020)

This is the first full length release by California based metalcore band Gulch and has been receiving a lot of positive praise from critics. To me I found this very surprising considering the albums runtime is only about fifteen minutes. What could possibly be going on here to stand out this much in 2020?

Well, I'm not too sure. I think that for as aggressive and relentless as this album is, the short runtime is to its benefit. The grooves are pretty solid throughout and the howling vocal delivery is pretty damn awesome!

I say all of this because the album does not have the same sort of crispness that we expect to hear from others in the genre, specifically The Dillinger Escape Plan. This record seems to share a lot more in common with Jane Doe era Converge. For one, the production is really sloppy; the guitars have this continuous buzzing throughout the record, separate to the percussion. The bass is practically non-existent on this album, and while the percussion is impressive and mixed the best of all of the instruments, it never gets its own opportunity to shine behind the aforementioned rattling in the guitars.

The other comparison point to Converge is the song structures. I have gone on record many a times disparaging mathcore and its incessant flailing around tempo/time signature changes as hook-worthy, instead of crafting actual grooves or melodies that are recognizable beyond the avant-garde tempo stylings.

Mathcore is not my thing, nor do I think it will ever be my "thing". And this album is not going to change my mind, even if it does take some decent steps into changing my mind. A curious listen for sure, but not memorable beyond it's minor Grindcore leanings.