SEEN AND HEARD: GORGUTS, KARTIKEYA

Happy 5th of July to one and all!  Though often overshadowed by yesterday’s holiday, July 5 is the anniversary of the date in 1775 when the Continental Congress adopted the so-called Olive Branch Petition attempting to convince King George III of the colonies’ affection and loyalty (while appealing for relief from various grievances). King George, of course, rejected the petition and declared the colonies to be in a “state of open and avowed rebellion”. I bet he later wished for a do-over on that decision.

Anyway, while indulging in solemn remembrance of the Olive Branch Petition this morning, as well as the 76th anniversary of the introduction of Spam to the market by Hormel Foods Corporation and the 67th anniversary of the first public sale of the bikini, I found time to observe a couple items of metal interest, which are discussed below.

GORGUTS

Little more than two weeks ago, we finally learned the album title (Colored Sands), track list, and release dates for the first studio album by Gorguts in 12 years — as well as hearing the album’s first single, “Forgotten Arrows”. I think it’s fair to say that the song was greeted by a boisterously enthusiastic reception. Gorguts’ Luc Lemay took notice, and yesterday he recorded a video thank-you to the band’s fans.

There’s some music in here, plus hints of yet another single or video on the way, but mainly I just think it’s cool that he did this.

KARTIKEYA

We’ve been steadfast supporters of Russia’s Kartikeya for a long time, and have been eagerly awaiting the band’s next album, Samudra. We got to premiere one song from the album (“The Horrors of Home”) about a year ago, and now the band have released a video that includes a play-through guitar medley of excerpts from the album performed by Kartikeya’s Arsafes.

Man, I’m way past ready for this. It sounds so good . . .