Year of the Tron

Music | December 23rd, 2014

Cliff, Karl, Matt and Paul / Photo by J Earl Miller

Fargo death metal vets Gorgatron release CD on Jan. 10

What happens when you Google “Fargo death metal”? Gorgatron happens, that’s what.

The “doomishly” loud, scarily fast music project will release its second full-length album, “Inner Supremacy,” on Jan. 10 with a show at The Aquarium.

Many Fargo music fans know Gorgatron as one of the top, if not the top, metal projects in area. The group has been around for nearly eight years and has opened for national acts such Machine Head, Havok and Weedeater. The band has also been invited to play Infest, a metal music festival in Philadelphia, in April.

The release of “Inner Supremacy” is a mark of high significance for Gorgatron. For one, the record has been in the works for a full year. Furthermore, the finished project is quite powerful in sound, quality and musicianship.

“We spent a lot of time recording it so we wanted it to sound as good as possible, so the mixing process took longer but it was worth it,” drummer Matt Johnson said. “I think it sounds better than the first record – and first record sounds really good.”

“Inner Supremacy,” unlike Gorgatron’s first record, has lead vocalist Karl Schmidt, who started out as an amateur and has grown into a rock solid monster on the mic. While it’s extremely difficult to make out his lyrics, he growls with precision and is convincingly demonic.

“We had heard a demo that Karl did where he did vocals, guitar and everything and based off that we thought, ‘Yeah, we should probably audition him,’” said Paul Johnson, Gorgatron’s guitarist and founder.

Key tracks on the album include the machine-gun-fast and chaotic “Flesh Erosion,” the riff-ripping title track “Inner Supremacy” and the wildly jagged “The Year of Nineteen Nagasaki.”

While Gorgatron’s music can be quite intimidating and perhaps nightmare inducing, the guys say they do not take themselves so seriously.

“I think there’s kind of stigma to being a heavy metal guy, that you’re this dark, pissed off dude,” Paul said. “It’s not reality, we are all just normal people like everybody else. I think people see that and they dig and it and hopefully they dig the music too.”

Matt added, “We are a death metal band that has fun onstage … you’ve seen the photos we’ve taken, we’re not standing there with our mouths closed and our arms crossed and looking like we are going to kill your family. We just have fun with it.”

Paul and Matt’s decade-long relationship is a testament to how well the two work together. And of course the addition of Karl and bassist Cliff Gustafson (who’s also a talented tattoo artist) into Gorgatron solidified the band’s celebrated presence in local music scene.

This April, the band will travel farther than ever before as they tour the northeast to perform at Infinge and in Albany, N.Y. Keep an eye out on Gorgatron’s Facebook page for updates on more local shows, as well as YouTube video releases.

“Oh, I got one more thing: support Romo’s (Tacos),” Matt said. “It takes a piss on any Mexican restaurant in this city – and you can type that too.”