Gautama-All Is Silence

Bigsound-NC
2014

Independently released at the tale end of October of last year (which sure makes it look as if the band has since been picked up by Bigsound-NC), "All Is Silence" is the full-length debut album from New Caledonia-based Gautama. Influenced by the likes of Sepultura, Lamb Of God and Pantera (and, thank the devil down below himself(!), really sounding for all the world like a rage-filled, underground/garage metal version of those three previously-mentioned influences mashed together into a gooey paste!) this female-fronted heavy thrash/death metal act was formed in 2008 with this (cool as shit) Christophe Planche-produced LP serving as their proper introduction to the ever-expanding metal universe. With a grand total of 7 tracks (of which we're talking about raw primal metal of the headbanging to hell variety!!) this is as good a first recording as they come and it definitely leaves you with an overall favorable impression of this young act. Besides playing guitar alongside equally capable bandmate Alexandre Verdier, with Bruno Fontebasso (bass) and Colin Soriano (drums) rounding out the lethal rhythm section quite nicely, Cloé Soriano takes care of the vocal duties in Gautama and she does it in a very unapologetic, in-your-face with my spike-laden fists of fury, no-holds barred kind of way! This fierce front-woman/warrior also leaves a favorable impression when it's all said and done and for Gautama it's a good selling point. From the way in which these four death thrashers come together here on "All Is Silence" there is little doubt as to what this young band is all about! "All Is Silence" was an important first-step out into the world of metal and, being that it is the band's first piece of recorded history and what not, it's a real nice "How do you do? Would you care to bang your head like a fucking madman?" kind of platter. The downside of all of this? It's only 7-tracks of  worthwhile chaos and by the time this band starts to fall into a dirty groove it's all done. More would have been nice. That should come though sooner or later as this lot offers so much promise that their take on heavy thrash/death metal just screams out to be expanded and further explored! It would be hard NOT to cheer the fuck out for a group like this and recommended them to fellow lovers of all things extreme! Gautama is worth taking a chance on if early Sepultura is your thing or if you get giddy over the though of a deadlier Lamb Of God! Digitally at least, "All Is Silence" can be found on both iTunes and Amazon and for more information on these four metal maniacs be sure to head on over to their Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/GAUTAMA.NC