Gorguts were formed in 1989 by Luc Lemay (vocals and guitar), Sylvain Marcoux (guitar), Éric Giguère (bass) and Stephane Provencher (drums). They released their first demo, ...And Then Comes Lividity, in 1990
... Gorguts were formed in 1989 by Luc Lemay (vocals and guitar), Sylvain Marcoux (guitar), Éric Giguère (bass) and Stephane Provencher (drums). They released their first demo, ...And Then Comes Lividity, in 1990 which led them to be signed to Roadrunner Records. Their first album, Considered Dead, featured guest appearances by James Murphy (a guitar solo on "Inoculated Life") and Chris Barnes (backing vocals on "Bodily Corrupted," "Rottenatomy," and "Hematological Allergy").
In 1993, they released their second album, which was more experimental and technical, titled The Erosion of Sanity. After the release however, Roadrunner decided to drop them. Subsequently, the band went into hiatus for five years, with many fans believing that they had broken up.
Then Lemay, the only remaining original member, returned in 1998 on Olympic Records with a new line-up consisting of Steeve Hurdle (guitar); Steve Cloutier (bass); and Patrick Robert (drums). This lineup released the album Obscura, which explored progressive and avant-garde territory. Obscura is a complex album with multi-layered dissonant harmonies and the lengths of the individual riffs can make their patterns difficult to pick out on a first listen. Gorguts' approach to harmony, rhythm and structure made Obscura an important technical death metal album.
After Obscura, guitarist Steeve Hurdle left and was replaced by Dan Mongrain of tech death band Martyr, and drummer Patrick Robert was replaced by Steve MacDonald. Gorguts' next and final album was From Wisdom to Hate, released in 2001. This album is stylistically a mix between the earlier albums and Obscura. Lemay, the primary songwriter on the album, experimented more with the use of sounds, rather than notes, in riffs, such as the opening riff of the album, on the song "Inverted" which uses a combination of pick-slides, pick tapping and traditional picking. However the album was in general much more straight-ahead and brutal than Obscura, with longer and faster blast beat sections, and more atonal guitar solos from the newly added guitarist.
Steve MacDonald, who had a history of recurrent depression, committed suicide in 2002, which eventually led to the split-up of Gorguts in 2005. Luc Lemay and Steeve Hurdle recently formed a new band, Negativa, and have released a demo CD.
Luc Lemay and Steve Cloutier recorded a video for guitar.com which explores much of the technique and philosophy behind Gorguts' music, and demonstrations of such songs as "Inverted" and "Obscura." Read more
