This is not a complaint, but there is so much good death metal out there that it’s sometimes really hard to know where to place your concentration. Doing a site like this one, I listen to so much new stuff each week, that sometimes it’s hard to get things to stick to my brain for long enough to matter. It’s a good problem to have.

Speaking of which, Canadian death explorers Gutvoid recently floored us with their 2022 debut “Durance of Lightless Horizons,” which was enough proof we needed that we had a new beast with which to contend. They’ve returned with a 4-track, 31-minute mini-album “Breathing Obelisk” that shows they’ve maintained their base and added some new elements and more spacious power to take their game to the next level. This vicious quartet—vocalist/guitarist Brendan Dean, guitarist Daniel Bonofiglio, bassist Justin Boehm, drummer D.W. Lee—adds more cosmic and psychologically challenging strains to what they already did so well, making their world that much more realized.

“Swamp Consumed” tingles when it opens, burly pounding and crushing growls immediately making pressure a factor, savagery and power uniting. Swollen death explodes as beastly hell is unleashed, trudging over bodies and blood on its way to lathering leads that aim to mangle. Guitars glisten as the playing adds bruising, slowly dripping into the void. “For We Are Many” has a raucous start, spattering and coughing up blood, death blistering over a filthy pace. The attack wrecks psyches as the guitars strengthen their grip, pushing into aggressive, lapping waters, rippling into a hypnotic fade. “When The Living Dome Opens” is cosmic and gashing, growls digging as the playing expands into your mind, the leads scorching just as things turn mystical. The wrecking almost feels personal as the guitars go off and breathe flames, smearing before turning temporarily chilling, soothing before the thorns dig in again. The playing teeters between freezing and molten, punishing to a drubbing end. Closer “Shodar” blinds, beastly growls flexing, tricky guitars making brains spin in skulls, an electric jolting running through the mid-section. A fiery blast melts as monstrous growls swallow flesh and bone whole, scathing guitars salting open wounds, the ground rumbling as everything comes to a smoking end.

While it may be a mini-serving from Gutvoid, “Breathing Obelisk” provides plenty of fodder for any death/doom patron who still likes to be overstuffed no matter the size of the recording. The band is delving deeper into uglier, yet more fascinating terrain, refusing to stay put in their own lane and bringing in other influences and madness surrounding them. This four-track crusher is convincing proof the band’s promising debut wasn’t an illusion, and the band should only morph further from here next time they commit tracks to tape.

For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/gutvoidofficial

To buy the album, go here: https://shop.bloodharvest.se/?s=Gutvoid&post_type=product

For more on the label, go here: https://www.bloodharvest.se/