GUTS, formed in 2020, hails from Finland and two years after their debut album, they hit the underground with their sophomore full-length “Nightmare Fuel”. And let me tell you something: this is Death Metal; absolutely crushing and heavy as a ton of bricks. GUTS never reaches blast beat levels. They dwell in slow to mid tempo groove with some Thrash Metal beats in a couple of songs to keep it interesting. It sure reminded me of OBITUARY’s “World Demise”, although there are some major differences in composition and song structuring. There are some songs that may sound similar in tempo, but the good thing is that both guitarists, Iiro and Jaakko, churn out a bunch of solid riffs in every single song, backed by Mikko’s pounding bass and an amazingly powerful drum work by Jani Kiiski. Last but not least, the low and gurgling vocals of Juha make “Nightmare Fuel” a great listening experience. Production wise, the album sure sounds modern and huge, which adds a lot of character to GUTS’ style. Luckily it also has an organic edge with a lot of grit and harshness. The mix is well balanced, giving the vocals the front and center spot. I liked how the bass guitar has a really deep tone, yet totally discernible, rumbling along the guitars’ wall of distortion. I can also assume the drums were low tuned, since they don’t pop out that much, adding to the density of the mix. The mastering is a bit bricked in my humble opinion, but it doesn’t affect the overall sound. Although they are not bringing anything new to the table, I definitely look forward to GUTS’ next album. “Nightmare Fuel” already shows a lot of evolution and how they are developing and finding their identity. From here on, I think they can (and will) get much better. Support the band at www.facebook.com/gutsbandofficial and get their album from their label www.facebook.com/morbidchapelrecords