EP REVIEW: Agony Reborn – Gorgatron

Fargo, North Dakota’s GORGATRON have been a staple of the underground death metal scene in the US for close to two decades now. Although the five-piece have toured extensively over the years and have three full-length records under their belt, it wasn’t until their most recent one, 2020’s Pathogenic Automation, that the band really began to make waves and gain some well deserved recognition and notice outside of the States. Their latest EP Agony Reborn is an interesting addition to the band’s catalogue, and does show plenty of promise for fans new and old.

The cinematic and foreboding Execrated Liturgy sets the tone for the rest of the music to come, leading seamlessly into Agony Reborn, the first proper track of the record. It’s got a dense, galloping main riff, interspersed with slick, dizzying moments that inject a little technicality into what starts off as a relatively rhythmic slab of death-thrash. The coarse gutturals and intricate drumming that accompany the guitars provide a little depth and intensity to an already fierce sound, with the soaring melodicism of the leads again broadening the scope of the music on offer to result in a track that manages to encompass a lot of what makes classic death metal sound so impressive without straying to the realms of parody.

The Unwilling, with its noticeably tighter, leaner guitar sound, strips away much of the groove of the preceding song and replaces it with a demented, eclectic and imaginative smorgasbord of great hooks, with the brief bursts of chaotic freneticism lending this a far more rabid and unhinged quality than its predecessor. The EP comes to a conclusion with a cover of the classic SEPULTURA track Dead Embryonic Cells, and it proves to be a fairly faithful interpretation of the original, albeit with a thicker sound, rumbling gutturals and a more modern production. This version does possess an aggressive sound and slightly faster tempo, which gives it a little more urgency than the original.

Due to the fact that this EP represents the band’s last with their current label, and the slightly muddier mix on the music contained within it in comparison with their most recent full-length, which is decidedly sharper and more polished, Agony Reborn as a record feels like it has been made, primarily, to fulfil a contractual obligation before the band heads on to pastures new with a new label. Luckily, GORGATRON have not cut corners when it comes to the songwriting, as the two original tracks on here are really impressive, being that excellent blend of classic death and thrash that sounds timeless without appearing stale or generic, and it’s clear that with a tighter production applied to them, they both could very well stand alongside the band’s classic material. If nothing else, it’s a great glimpse into what direction the band is heading musically, and if this is anything to go by, it bodes well for album number four being their most impressive yet.

Rating: 7/10

Agony Reborn is out now via Blood Blast Distribution.

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