Throughout my years as a maturing metal head, I’ve fallen in love with many corners of extreme metal as they’ve so much to offer that sound good to me, but two styles that have for the most part eluded me are grind and brutal death metal. Both are typically way too extreme for my personal taste, and I’ve only liked two grind albums: the last album from Heathen Beast and the last piece from Cattle Decapitation which was very watered down for grind metal. However, my taste doesn’t prevent me from the occasional poke into the style, and why not knock out two birds with one axe smash to the head? India’s Gutslit appeared to have the same idea, and their upcoming record is yet another example of metal taken to some of its most extreme.

I had a feeling that this record was simply going to be too much for me as, like I said, I don’t really favor either style, yet Gutslit pulls back just a tad in terms of skull shattering brutality to allow for an entrance that is easy enough for me to just slide right in, avoiding the knives, spikes, and such. There’s not much fucking around with “Amputheatre” as one might imagine, and I kinda like it for that regard especially because Gutslit manages to pull it off quite well. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard a band of either brutal death or grind metal simply created albums that were just fucking nothing but loudness (and maybe that’s what they’re going for) and it just never appealed to me, but Gutslit puts in the roughest of structures for “Amputheatre” to take shape and bring forth its brand of blood drenched metal that has a horrifying presence no matter what song. Sure, the intro track is pretty mellow but it’s meant to be more of a setup than anything else, and the following eight tracks can only be described as fucking vicious with a tenacity and energy that’s no less than murderous to the very core. There’s also a faint sense of rhythm amongst all the blood and chaos which adds the slightest sense of form to it all, and it really helps tie all of “Amputheatre” together with a pretty little bow of fucking barbed wire. And even when I feel like I’m not feeling what Gutslit is throwing down, these Indians bring it right back around and pull you back into the flames that rose up and devoured every soul who dares touch it.

It takes quite a bit for me to get into brutal death or grind metal independently, but together it truly takes a lot to pull me in, but I can’t help but say that Gutslit has made quite the captivating piece with this album. Coated with no less than steaming blood, the pulps of its enemies, and pours forth the screams of its victims, “Amputheatre” shows that Gutslit may just be the premier brutal death band of their country and their addition of grind to their style take them way over the top to create a sound that’s not only the definition of guttural but also so horrifying it’s impossible to wrench your eyes away from.

“Amputheatre” releases on October 15th via Transcending Obscurity India!

LISTEN to advanced tracks from “Amputheatre” on Bandcamp here.

LIKE Gutslit on Facebook here.