EP REVIEW: Blood Feather – Guhts

For some, the pandemic has resulted in an outpouring of creativity that spills over from other bands they may be involved with, needing their own vehicle for release, to seek out new ears and new pastures. One such band is New York-based GUHTS; comprised of members of WITCHKISS, BASK and BLACK MOUNTAIN HUNGER, they were formed out of a need to release material that had outgrown its original purpose. Guitarist Scott Prater was originally writing the material for WITCHKISS until realising that what he’d tapped into was in fact, far greater. Recruiting fellow member Amber Burns as well as Jesse Van Note and Dan Shaneyfelt, they set about crafting what would become GUHTS’ debut EP, Blood Feather. 

Opener Eyes Open begins with cascading drum fills with feedback heralding the arrival of slow-moving guitars. We’re then treated to Burns‘ emotive vocals that evoke the more ethereal side of doom metal. There’s an ebb and flow on display across its runtime, such as the quieter moments just before the halfway mark that then erupts in gargantuan fashion. As it gradually builds to its conclusion, screamed vocals entwine with Burns‘ emotive, ethereal singing. 

Following this, Handless Maiden begins with a doom-laden groove with tom fills as guitars swirl in the background. The CULT OF LUNA influence is more pronounced here, with repeated motifs that slowly build upon each other and the song’s foundations until its eventual eruption. It’s more condensed than its main influence, but still evokes their emotive peaks with its slow, inexorable march forwards. In stark contrast, The Mirror is the calm at the eye of the storm, at least in its opening moments, though Burns‘ cries of “your life is not your own” atop an industrialised chug hint that something is amiss. 

Finally, The Forest closes out the EP in true post-metal fashion at a not-insignificant ten minutes. It’s the longest song on the EP by a good way but it also packs in more twists and turns than the previous three tracks combined. An ambient opening gives way to slow, somewhat discordant guitars and gloomy drumming and crooning vocals. Again the build is almost imperceptible until it’s already arrived and the vocals once more steal the show with their deep emotional resonance. 

GUHTS are, at their core, a post-metal band that draw on their influences and their main bands to create something new and compelling; the slow-moving progression and emotional soundscapes a clear hallmark of the bands that influenced them, from post metal luminaries CULT OF LUNA and NEUROSIS to DEFTONES. There’s a distinctly industrial flavour to their post metal that lends a machine-like, unsettling aura to their music along with electronic drums, with the vocals providing a humanising, emotional counterpoint to this. Blood Feather is an enrapturing starting point for this post-metal troupe and – while it doesn’t explore too many different sonic pastures than those of its influences – it shows that there’s scope for progression and evolution beyond what’s already offered here. 

Rating: 7/10

Blood Feather is set for release on August 6th via self-release.

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