I’m going to borrow the band’s own description of themselves here: “an ‘avant-garde post-metal project, delivering larger than life sounds through, deeply emotional music” Guhts are from New York, and many interesting links are drawn up, encompassing post-hardcore, atmospheric sludge, electronic and even strings in the mix. On the face of it, this is a bold project.
The sinister tone of the drum instantly recalls Cult of Luna. Throw in a dark and chilling sound, and a cold female vocal, and I am minded towards Madder Mortem, an image which stayed with me as the album developed. “White Noise” is spooky stuff. The instrumentals and vocals make waves. Downwards it goes, heavily, before drifting away further in post-metal style. “White Noise” is disturbing, deliberately so. The air gets thicker. Guhts sludge through “Til Death”. The guitar work has menace. The vocalist adds a haunted feel to this already sinister piece. So far the bleakness has been supplemented by the more expressive instrumental and vocal work but “The Mirror”, a moody song, seems to be primarily an ode to bleakness with only an impassioned vocal performance towards the end to alleviate the greyness. It’s emotional in the darkest of settings.
“Handless Maiden” has more belligerence about it, treading a hypnotic but heavy post-metal path. The vocalist cries out in despair. The thunderous but measured instrumentals signal an apocalyptic world. “Eyes Open” starts with the intent of good post-metal and the drums make their statement before the vocalist adds angst into the mix. “Generate” then turns back to the mood of “The Mirror” with a slow, bleak dirge. I found it weighty and hard-going but at least the vocalist found something to be excited about towards the end, so there’s some consolation there. “The Wounded Healer”, which closes the album, provides no consolation. This is music for the hangman – slow, heavy, cumbersome, depressing and saved from a certain death only by the theatrical vocal skills of Amber. Thanks to her and the supporting doom-laden heaviness, the song has a tragic quality.
As a whole, this album didn’t ignite me. Whilst the vocalist adds human anguish and atmosphere, and the instrumentals are rock solid, “Regeneration” seemed to me to go through a post-metal scenario with essentially the same pattern and mix of emotion and hardness. Its main purpose. As far as I could see, was to smother and overwhelm us with bleakness.
(6/10 Andrew Doherty)
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