Time was, France was where rock music went to die; sure, they had
Magma (and
Metal Urbain, to be generous), but other than that it was
Johnny Hallyday and the inexplicably beloved
Serge Gainsbourg. Well, in recent years, France has exported a basketload of awesome bands, from
Gojira to
Deathspell Omega, and
Gorod definitely belongs on that list. This technical/progressive death metal band has released two prior discs on the Willowtip label, and this one features more of their trademark liquid, jazz fusion basslines; crisp drumming; and ultra-repetitive, high-pitched guitar arpeggios. The vocals are the usual death growls, and the lyrics are probably about nothing, but the guitar solos and those just-this-side-of-maddening guitar passages are what people come to
Gorod for, and they deliver in spades. Some of these songs even verge on catchy, a major achievement in tech-death all by itself. Highly recommended to fans of
Atheist,
Cynic,
Death,
Decrepit Birth,
Necrophagist,
Obscura,
Psycroptic, et al. ~ Phil Freeman