Guhts Premiere “Burn My Body”; Playing Crucial Fest Next Month
New York (and then some) atmospheric post-sludge explorers Guhts will be appearing Aug. 26 at Crucial Fest 11 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Now a five-piece, the band premiere their new single “Burn My Body” (below) ahead of their excursion west, and announce that they’ll record the instrumental portion of their first full-length while they’re out there with the esteemed Andy Patterson (The Otolith, SubRosa, Insect Ark, Iota, etc.) at his The Boar’s Nest studio. Which, if you’re going to do it, is a good way to go, especially since you’re already making the trip.
The group, who were a trio that began to come together on the side from Scott Prater and Amber Burns‘ main outfit, Witchkiss, during 2020’s lockdown, issued their debut EP, Blood Feather (review here), in Aug. 2021 to a resounding reception. At the time, Burns and Prater were joined by North Carolina’s Dan Shaneyfelt on guitar, synth and vocals, and drums were programmed. Now, after a run of shows with as a five-piece with Daniel Martinez on bass and Brian Clemens on drums that led them to Maryland Doom Fest last month, they unveil “Burn My Body” as a demonstration of proven-concept post-metal and an intention to move forward with more.
One might discern shades of Amenra‘s lurching flow in “Burn My Body,” 
some of the severity of the rhythm, maybe some Isis specifically in the guitar, but as the repeated title line seems almost to arrive begging for the release implied in cremation, the synthesizer responds with open ambience, as thought to manifest the air with which one’s form joins as smoke. “Burn My Body” is more aware of what it wants to be than was Blood Feather, and more assured in its execution of that, from the soft but tense intertwined guitars of the intro to the grandiose keyboard lines that ensue once the procession kicks in, a horn sound calling to mind Imperial Triumphant without, you know, all that pesky death metal.
Resonance is key, as well as the subtle and not-subtle layering happening in the vocals. I don’t know if all five members of the band were involved in the recording — if you told me the drums were programmed again, I’d believe it — but there is a poise in the new single that speaks to Guhts having begun to ‘figure it out,’ which only makes me look forward more to the record they’ll begin to make with Patterson before returning to New York to finish with the also-esteemed Andrew Schneider (Pelican, Unsane, Cave In, Lo-Pan, so many more). It’s a five-and-a-half-minute track that announces Guhts‘ EP as not a fluke of lockdown restlessness, but the beginning point from which they’ll continue to build out their sound and style.
Therefore, in short, fucking a.
With an eye toward the future, enjoy this in the present:
Guhts, “Burn My Body” premiere
We are playing Crucial Fest in SLC on August 26th with Marissa Nadler, Mizmor, The Otolith and many more. While were out there we will be recording the music for our full length with Andy Patterson (Subrosa) at The Boars Nest in SLC. Sometime in September/October Amber will be recording Vocals with Andrew Schneider in NY.
Plans for releasing the album are still in the works and there is no set release date yet.
This song will be released on 8/2 via all the streaming services and 7/28 via Bandcamp.
GUHTS are:
Amber Burns – Vocals
Scott Prater – Guitar & Synth
Dan Shaneyfelt – Guitar & Synth
Daniel Martinez – Bass
Brian Clemens – Drums
