Gorod - A Perfect Absolution (2012)

Bands who chose Russian words as names often look ridiculous especially when name is transliterated to Latin alphabet, for example German sludge/doom band Schakhtyor. There are two exits from this semi-linguistic, semi-reason-bound trap: either you take the name without transliteration (like Finnish band Курск) or you choose a word that looks pretty cool and do not contain any complex trigraphs or something weird like “shch” or “tsch”. The best instance (although pretty absurd in whole) is famous Austrian avant-garde black metal band Korova – just look how this work appears, it has the pleophony in center, that merely rolling in mouth (but this word means “cow” in Russian, so the sense remains mystery to me).

“Gorod” is an example of second way indeed, and it is necessary to notice that this word both sounds and means quite convenient for music these magicians used to play and present. “Gorod” (“city” in Russian) is a kind of word and notion behind it that are abstract enough to absorb all diversity and peculiarity of art of these French guys, simultaneously simple enough to avoid any parasitic secondary associations and of course short enough to look and sound quite cool.

Gorod’s technical death metal is no doubt technical, moreover I would like to see a group who could compete with them on equal velocities; but the technicity is not their main goal or the point they are would like to underline. For Gorod technicity is just a kind of means, a tool and a clay that will construct the whole sculpture, and such high plank of means just allows them to build things that are unavailable to many their congeners. It is nothing contradictive to call their death metal “progressive” but I doubt that this dry, restrained word can describe all the capriciousness and whimsicality of Gorod’s musical constructions taken, in all modesty, from jazz and related musical endeavours. Furthermore, “A Perfect Absolution” sounds definitely eclectic because of usage of tiny pieces belonging to another genres, small and acting as ornament; this eclectic is not so obvious like for example in music of Iwrestledabearonce; here it is imperceptibly woven into the fabric of album, becoming everything from knots to embroidery flowers.

And last thing I cannot avoid writing about “A Perfect Absolution” is a comparison with its predecessor “Process of a New Decline”, which looks obligate when you deal with bands like Gorod whose artistic manner is quite subtle and needs thorough observation during diachrony. And standing these worx near each other, I can conclude that “Absolution” is a bit inferior than “Process”. In spite of fact that the last album sounds (in whole) much more better than penultimate one, especially the sound of supporting solo guitars which was sometimes even irritating on “Process”, the whole picture of album becomes less bright and lucid. If “Process of a New Decline” has a light and a bit malicious, even venomous atmosphere, moving it to step aside from grey mass of progressive death metal albums, “APA” is bereft of this peculiarity although preserving echoes of it. But nevertheless this is Gorod in its best form.

As A Result: just wonderful and astounding as always, and 2012 top candidate of course

Listen It?: only if you have a taste otherwise go fuck yourself