Gurkkhas - A Life Of Suffering

It has been a long time since one heard any new music from France’s Gurkkhas, and this isn’t really a new album but more of a ‘pull one from the vault and dust it off and compile the editions together so we may remind listeners that they exist’ album from Great Dane Records. For those who have followed these guys since the late 90s before their inactivity since 2003 until only recently, “A Life of Suffering” won’t do much for them, but for new listeners this is a nice combination of both their releases from the early 2000s, though incomplete. The first four tracks are from their debut album “Engraved in Blood” and the rest of the tracks are from “A Life of Suffering.” It is well produced, loud, and will appeal to fans of mostly Malevolent Creation or Cannibal Corpse. Some of the tracks are blistering while others catchingly chuggy, so expect a lot of Old School Death Metal influence from the late 90s to infiltrate the ears.

With all 3 members still intact, “A Life of Suffering” is very loud and in one’s face, but razor sharp clear. The first 4 tracks are a bit louder than the others, especially on the vocal and guitar front and more Malevolent Creation inspired mixed with Deicide. Tracks like “Crucified” are fast and blistering while others like “The 12 Gurkhas…” are more of that feet stomping, groove driven chug fest that still retains plenty of harshness. Then it feels like there is a shift once the 2nd album tracks start like ‘Born of a Day of War’ which has more grating bellows versus snarls from vocalist J.F. (or M50 as he calls himself now) and more of a thicker sound that muddles the guitars as a bit from Romain Bellec though it sounds like his bass is more profound. The vocals are certainly more dynamic here as they almost swirl around between rasps and growls, showing that Gurkkhas is more dynamic in their later years than earlier ones. The drumming from Nicholas Hamon is consistent between both albums, losing little variation and staying in that pounding Cannibal Corpse style that so many have grown to love. As the album progresses it feels that the band went for more of a ‘safe route’ by playing on some of the genre’s great’s patterns, but compared to their debut it had a little more variety in sound to deliver.

Not every track from the 2nd album sounds like it is Cannibal Corpse driven. There is almost a technical Nile feel to the driving rhythm of a track like ‘The Day of Battle’ and the pounding stop and go pace of ‘Tears of Blood’ has a Dying Fetus touch to show that some breathing room is nice to enjoy versus just a seamless flow of guitars, vocals, and drums working in unison to be as a loud as possible. Again, for those that have heard Gurkkhas before- this new rendition doesn’t do much and will probably be passed up. But, for new listeners, it isn’t a bad spot to show some American influenced Death Metal from France and how just three people can create quite a bit of noise that sounds decent. Expect a good smattering of 90s Death Metal that is directly to the point and shows no mercy as it crushes everything in its path.

3 / 5 STARS