EP Review: Gore. – A Bud That Never Blooms (Spinefarm Records)

Texas based trio, Gore, are set to deliver their debut EP, A Bud That Never Blooms, through Spinefarm Records on the 24th of October, 2024.

Gore. formed in 2003 and the band quickly made waves with their emotionally raw and unapologetically vulnerable sound. The band uploaded two songs to YouTube and gained unexpected rapid response for their vulnerable lyrics and dynamic heavy sound. Fans racked up views and they were even given a seal of approval by established bands such as Motionless in White, Papa Roach, and Flyleaf. That led to their recent signing to Spinefarm and now to the release of A Bud That Never Blooms.

Gore. are a band that brings a distinctly feminine perspective to the heavy music scene. Gore.’s origin story is certainly unique. When Roughton went to college, the self-taught vocalist wanted to study music. But family pushed her to find a more stable career. To Roughton’s shock, that career became electrical engineering and by the end of her studies, she had landed a job with a major scientific organization and the career proved useful. Roughton credits being an engineer providing her the tools of work ethic, organization and management to help with her Gore.

The world told Haley Roughton to put her dream aside. Except this time, it’s on her terms — and she’s doing it with “emotional gore” and with A Bud That Never Blooms.

An EP that is a deeply personal exploration of the complexities of femininity. Recorded at Miserable Productions Studios and co-produced by Ben McGuiness and Caleb Freihaut, the EP embodies “emotional gore.”

Gore. are Haley Roughton on vocals, Alex Reyes on guitars and Devin Birchfield on bass.

Genres aren’t really a thing here with Gore. as they embrace touchstones ranging from nu-metal to shoegaze and even a bit of pop. As singer, Roughton states:

“The goal of Gore. is to be very raw and vulnerable — emotional gore.”

So every genre is fair game to help deliver the message the band are aiming to deliver. Ultimately, Gore.’s music is an embrace of the raw, unfiltered aspects of life, particularly from a female perspective.

A Bud That Never Blooms comes with 5 tracks on it to showcase Gore. and their perspective starting with Pray. You instantly get hit with a wave of chaos. Crunchy drums, screeching and screaming guitars all in a very progressive style with viciously roared vocals. The song transitions a lot though so don’t get too settled. We drop down into clean vocals and synth backing before then switching into a more standard riffing chorus with powerful clean vocals, then back into the technical work. The constant moving and changing of the song and it’s styles keeps you slightly on edge. Its clever and impactful with some really neat guitar work, a decent drum beat and clearly an abundance of talent in the vocalist and the many different styles deployed by her here.

Doomsday and Babylon are our next tracks with the former starting with a super clean and emotional vocal line over the gentlest of melodies. It builds slowly, and is sung with such clarity that the lyrics are easy to follow, reflecting on the desensitization to violence and suffering in today’s world. The emption pours through, in the vocals but also in the guitars that grow into the song. That sadness changes to frustration and anger wonderfully as the song explodes with fury nearing it’s end. Razing screams, crunchy guitars and intense drum beats leave you battered and bruised. This is a superb song.

The latter, Babylon, has a lot to live up to after Doomsday but Gore. are up to the task delivering a song that is as heavy as it is quirky and creative. The constant transformations add creativity and make it difficult for you to get too comfortable, something I think is by design. Moving from guttural vocals and metallic riffing, to smooth singing and synth, and crossing every possible variation between each change. It is chaos, organised, but chaos. Powerful to listen to and kudos for the ability to deliver their messaging so well, with this track confronting the painful realities of womanhood when chasing dreams like, but not exclusively, motherhood.

Angels Like You is a little more standard, at least by Gore.’s standard so it is easier to settle into and catch a rhythm. Utilising synth and clean vocals for the verses but then dropping in a big explosion of hard and emotionally weighty instrumentation for choruses. The combination of the slightly poppy synth with the heavier crunch of guitars works really well.

We end A Bud That Never Blooms with Heaven Is Above Me. The longest track on the album at just over 4 and a half minutes long. Starting with cleans, synth and a bit of piano, Gore. lead you gently into the track as the vocals raise in power and passion. It’s emotional, and believable and very easy to listen to thanks to the absolutely amazing singing and the flow of the song. When the guitars do kick in, for a second chorus, the emotion washes over you in wave after wave of power.

As we reach the ending of Heaven Is Above Me and the ending of A Bud That Never Blooms. The sudden change to an ominous guitar tone and gang vocals repeating while Haley Roughton stretches her vocals gorgeously is quite an amazing and extremely powerful sound.

With a sound that feels very much “now” Gore. have certainly achieved great things with A Bud The Never Blooms. The emotions ring clearly throughout the whole release where we get 5 tracks of immense creativity and variety. It feels fresh, exciting and powerful. Especially when you read and breakdown the lyrics along with the impressive instrumentation. Gore. are a band that have a big future ahead of them if they can continue to recreate the realism and dynamism of this first genre bending release.

Gore. Links

Website – Instagram – X(Twitter) – Facebook – Apple Music – Spotify – YouTube