GUTS CLUB is a doomgaze/post-metal three-piece hailing from New Orleans; Lindsey Baker (guitar/vocal), Ronna Sandoval (drums), and Alex Dimeff (guitar). Since the groups inception in 2015, GUTS CLUB have been experimenting with and refining their sound (and their roster), which has culminated into the experimental doom metal live-in-studio recording that is their latest release “CLIFFS/WALLS”.
As soon as the album starts, the listener is dropped right into the grind of static pulses and feedback of the records title track, immediately setting the tone of the album. The emotional droning guitars of Baker and Dimeff, joined with the Moe Tucker-esque drumming of Sandoval, create a sonic weighted blanket that can both comfort and completely unnerve you. It gently cradles you along its calming bed of static and then violently drowns you in dense melodic abrasion. A huge departure from the groups debut recordings.
Bakers’ thunderous, mantra-like vocal delivery is able to break you in the same way that Michael Gira of SWANS can break you; as if open wounds that never healed could shout their grievances and demand retribution. The raw emotion is on full display, and you can feel the suffocating heat of the room they were recording in. Every bestial howl carries exhausted despair. “I DID MY BEST”, Baker cries out on ‘The Gun Collector’. “I DID MY BEST FOR YOU!” is arguably the theme of the entire record.
According to the group’s Bandcamp:
“CLIFFS/WALLS is a meditation on grief and how we navigate a world overflowing with extreme loss and devastation. Some of us let it pass through us, some leap directly into it, others fight it, violently, until we’ve surrounded ourselves with walls too brutal to overcome. There is no resiliency; it is just knot after knot of trauma that we can only attempt to loosen or avert.”
In addition to downloads of the new album, GUTS CLUB is offering a limited edition Zine with info/lyrics (only a few copies left!), as well as a fantastic must have Soprano-inspired poster. Both can be snatched up at the groups Bandcamp page while supplies last.
I dunno where GUTS CLUB is going, but I know I’m going along for the ride. Care to join me?
Official Website: GUTSCLUB.com
GUTS CLUB on Bandcamp: GUTSCLUB.Bandcamp.com
GUTS CLUB on Instagram: Instagram.com/MUSICFAN666