Gutted Souls - Unconscious Automaton

We live in a world where achieving clean production and pitch perfect sounding guitars has never been easier and the focus on getting the guitar tone and mixing takes the forefront in music. It’s understandable though because when everyone’s music sounds perfectly clean it’s often times hard to listen to bands that don’t have great production. But then there are bands that come around and remind you that the writing and energy of the music should be the most important factor. Rio De Janeiro’s Gutted Souls are just the band to do so. Their EP Unconscious Automaton is a much needed blast of energy that packs a very raw and visceral sound.

Their sound reminds me of what you might get if you compacted Jungle Rot, Death, Dying Fetus, and a smidge of Lamb Of God into one giant death metal sandwich. You’ve got the old school death metal sound with the more brutal death metal aspects of Dying Fetus mixed with guitar tones that feel similar to some of Lamb Of God’s songs (The demo track ‘Mondo Psycho’ always makes me think their song ‘Redneck’ is about to play).

The EP is six tracks long, although two tracks are demo tracks and the second of those is a demo of the first track on the album so it’s closer to a four track EP, but it’s essentially the epitome of short and sweet. It’s a very strong outing that effortlessly calls for repeat listens. The EP covers many different topics such as science, politics, and religion, one of my favorites being the lyrics for ‘Psychopathic Ruler’ where the song talks about flawed political systems with lyrics like “Behead the king - Kill the president Does not work - The system will find Another psycho - Another face to blame it all - while the masters laugh”.

The instrumentation on this album is impressive to say the least and the drums on this album are particuarly killer. Definitely on par with bands like Dying Fetus, Suffocation, Misery Index, and other tech death bands like Nile and Hate Eternal. The blast beats and tempo changes this guy does are pretty insane and he handles them with ease. The guitar solo’s on ‘Dancing To The Sound… Of The Powers That Be’ and ‘Words Of Hate’ help make those tracks two of the best on the album as well.

Unconscious Automaton is most definitely an impressive outing with a heaping amount of great energy and raw talent packed within. I would love to see how these guys tackle a full LP. The EP feels very fresh and it’s replay value will definitely help make this a memorable EP.