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Album Review – Gore. / If You Do Not Fear Me… EP (2025)

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This Texas-based Progressive Metal and Metalcore outfit is back with their second EP, continuing to challenge norms and expressing the full spectrum of feminine experience.

Bringing a distinctly feminine perspective to the heavy music scene since the band’s inception back in 2023, Houston, Texas-based Progressive Metal/Metalcore outfit Gore. makes waves with their emotionally raw and unapologetically vulnerable sound. Currently formed of Haley Roughton on vocals, Alex Reyes on the guitars, Devin Birchfield on bass, and Wills Weller on drums, the band strikes back with their second EP, titled If You Do Not Fear Me…, following up on their 2024 debut EP A Bud That Never Blooms, continuing to challenge norms and expressing the full spectrum of feminine experience through their powerful sound while combining elements of Metalcore with personal and introspective lyrics.

Wrath, the first song of the EP, offers an amalgamation of styles that perfectly depicts the band’s approach, starting in an almost pop manner to the clean vocals by Haley while also presenting heavy, caustic moments where their Djent vein pulses hard. Then investing in a more direct Metalcore sound we have Sepsis, reminding me of some of the creations by Infected Rain, with the bass by Devin sounding utterly metallic and thunderous; followed by Orbiting, again modern and visceral, with Alex firing some piercing riffs while Haley alternates between clean vocals and her screaming madness, clearly inspired by the music by the Butcher Babies. And their last blast of Metalcore infused with Groove, Alternative and Nu Metal, entitled Like You Meant it, will captivate your senses mercilessly, with Wills dictating the pace with his classic beats supported by the rumbling bass by Devin.

Thematically exploring identity, emotional vulnerability, and interpersonal relationships in their lyrics, the band has received support from well-known acts such as Motionless in White, Flyleaf, and Papa Roach, and based on the quality of the music found in If You Do Not Fear Me… I’m sure their fanbase will keep growing in the coming years. Hence, you can also join the band in their quest for heavy music with a delicate touch via Facebook and Instagram, stream their distinct creations on Spotify, and of course add If You Do Not Fear Me… to your respectable collection by clicking HERE or HERE. Gore. will definitely go places after the release of their two excellent EPs, paving their path for an upcoming full-length album for our total delight and, therefore, embracing us with their undisputed progressiveness, passion and darkness.

Best moments of the album: Sepsis and Orbiting.

Worst moments of the album: None.

Released in 2025 Spinefarm Records

Track listing
1. Wrath 4:33
2. Sepsis 3:28
3. Orbiting 3:04
4. Like You Meant it 4:13

Band members
Haley Roughton – vocals
Alex Reyes – guitar
Devin Birchfield – bass
Wills Weller – drums

Album Review – Dauthuz / Cold (2021)

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Enjoy the new album by this ruthless squad that has been assaulting Dutch eardrums with their own twisted version of skull crushing, pounding Death Metal since 2015.

3.5rating

dauthuz-cold-2021Since their inception in 2015 in Zaanstad, a Dutch municipality in the province of North Holland, the ruthless Death Metal squad known as Dauthuz (old school slang for “the process of dying”) has been assaulting Dutch eardrums with their own twisted version of skull crushing, pounding Death Metal, and that couldn’t have been any different with their sophomore opus straightforwardly entitled Cold. Why Cold? Because cold are the calculations that operate the war machine, cold is the broken heart of the vengeful stalker, cold feels the barrel of the gun in the mouth of the victim, cold are the limbs of the last survivor on the frozen plain, and cold are those on the six feet deep descent. In other words, cold is death, and that’s exactly what vocalist Emiel, guitarists Dennis Jak and Hans Bijland, bassist Tim Roeper and drummer Bas Polder bring forth in their new album, recorded and produced by Dennis Jak, mixed and mastered by Kristian Kohle of the infamous Kohlekeller Studio, and featuring a stylish artwork by Italian artist Roberto Toderico.

The Evil Wicked Do is infernal and heavy right from the very first second thanks to the smashing drums by Bas and the visceral, deep growling by Emiel, or in other words, it’s classic Death Metal from the 90’s that kicks off the album on an aggressive and demented mode, and there’s no time to breath as the quintet keeps hammering our cranial skulls mercilessly in the fast and furious A New Dawn, where Dennis and Hans are unstoppable with their wicked riffage. Let’s keep slamming into the circle pit to the sound of The Dead, a pure Death Metal feast spearheaded by the strident guitars by Dennis and Hans while Emiel continues to roar and bark manically, accompanied by the rumbling bass by Tim and ending in a truly menacing way; whereas your ideal soundtrack to the end of the world must contain the song The Apocalypse, a fulminating lecture in old school Death Metal where Bas is once again infernal behind his drums, elevating the song’s darkness to a whole new level.

The title-track Cold will blacken your hearts and minds to the sound of the headbanging riffs by the band’s guitar duo while Emiel continues his path of savagery on vocals, not to mention the grim aura that permeates the air throughout the entire song, whereas investing in a darker and heavier sonority the likes of Unleashed, this unrelenting Dutch squad fires the massive tune Hellborn, inviting us all to crack our necks headbanging like true metalheads while Dennis and Hans deliver some sick guitar solos for our total delight.  Even more demented than its predecessors, Gore is a lecture in venomous Death Metal where Emiel sounds like a demonic entity on vocals while his bandmates make sure every single space in the air is filled with hatred and, of course, gore; followed by Termination, not as dynamic nor as detailed as the rest of the album albeit still presenting the band’s obscurity and heaviness from start to finish, with Emiel stealing the spotlight with his Stygian growling. Lastly, there’s nothing better than a pulverizing tune the likes of Crossfire to conclude the album, with all band members being on fire, bringing forth sheer malignancy while Bas once again takes the lead with his blast beats.

dauthuz-2021The unrelenting, demented Death Metal crafted by Dauthuz in Cold can be fully appreciated on YouTube and on Spotify, but of course if you want to show your true support to the underground you should definitely purchase the album from the band’s Big Cartel, from Apple Music or from Amazon, as well as follow the band on Facebook and on Instagram for news, tour dates and all things Dauthuz, and subscribe to their YouTube channel for more of their music. Death Metal made in the Netherlands can’t get any colder than this, and by that I mean any darker nor heavier than what Dauthuz offer us all in their new album, setting fire to their path of devastation and pointing to a bright future ahead of such hardworking Dutch act.

Best moments of the album: The Evil Wicked Do, The Apocalypse and Gore.

Worst moments of the album: Termination.

Released in 2021 Stageblast Records

Track listing
1. The Evil Wicked Do 4:00
2. A New Dawn 2:52
3. The Dead 6:13
4. The Apocalypse 3:20
5. Cold 4:51
6. Hellborn 5:10
7. Gore 4:03
8. Termination 4:56
9. Crossfire 7:10

Band members
Emiel – vocals
Dennis Jak – guitars
Hans Bijland – guitars
Tim Roeper – bass
Bas Polder – drums