Album Review: Gurt – Skullossus (When Planets Collide)

The UK’s own party doom band Gurt, are due to release their second album called Skullossus on May 1st 2017 via When Planets Collide.

The words that lead you into Skullossus give you fair warning regarding what you’re about to hear.

“Escape before it’s too late”

10 songs of hard-hitting doom mixed fast thrashy metal & an upbeat sound. It begins with a hard punch to the nose though. Gimme the Night, Any Day is a furious sounding song. Filled with all manner of deep, throbbing hooks & guttural vocals.

Unlike many other bands within the doom genre, Gurt do give off a more party vibe, the ‘party doom’ moniker is apt. It’s dark & extremely heavy music but with a pleasing upbeat style. Don’t get me wrong, you’re not going to be playing this at little Johnny’s 8th birthday party but you can certainly move your body to it.

With songs like Battlepants, Double Barreled Shot-pun & The Crotch Wobbler you can see that Gurt definitely have a tongue in cheek approach to doom. That’s no bad thing as it’s a style of metal that is often seen as slow, plodding & depressive.

It would be all for nothing though if the songs weren’t actually any good & happily, Skullossus is filled with banger after banger. The fiery pace of Double Barreled Shot-pun, the bassy beat of Existance is Pain & the intense speed metal style of Broken Heart Heroin Man are all songs that really stand out.

However it’s Meowing at the Fridge that really sees Gurt step their game up. Built around a killer drum beat & crushing guitar riff. It takes a slow & methodical approach to assaulting your mind & is a song you’ll have trouble forgetting about.

Skullossus draws to a close with the surprisingly catchy & quite unique sounding, John Garr See Ya Later. Unique because a midpoint change in direction sees a number of unexpected instruments make themselves known including a saxophone!

That’s before the double header of The Balled of Tom Stones and Reg Montagne (parts 1 & 2). The first part is a more traditional sounding doom song with a slow & thoughtful melody leading the song while the vocals spit fire. It’s 5+ minutes of great doom-oriented metal. Part two is completely different though, just two minutes of soft & echoing melody. It’s nice sounding & caps off a seriously strong album.

Gurt – Skullossus Full Track Listing:

1. Welcome to the Shit Show
2. Gimme the Night, any Day
3. Battlepants
4. Double Barreled Shot-pun
5. The Crotch Wobbler
6. Existance is Pain
7. Broken Heart Heroin Man
8. Meowing at the Fridge
9. John Gar See Ya Later
10. The Balled of Tom Stones and Reg Montagne (Part 1)
11. The Balled of Tom Stones and Reg Montagne (Part 2)

You can order the album now via Big Cartel here. You can find out much more about the band via their website here, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter & Google +. If you fancy listening to some of Gurt’s music before you buy you can via Myspace or YouTube.