Stepping back out of the shadows, “Eternal Gut Rot”, the new album by riff heavy gang Shower of Teeth is as menacing as its title might suggest. Developed as a collection of songs trying to make sense, and elaborate on, recent societal themes, Gut Rot is an edgy piece of art- knocking bystanders out of the way with it’s hard edge. Yet whilst the premise of Eternal Gut Rot may sound like one focused on decay and darkness; there is light at the heart of the album and a sense of distant optimism- something which may well be the centre of the album’s success.
“We started to write ideas during the first lockdown” confirms Teethsman Kye Walker, “and really we started with 70 odd riffs which we gradually turned into songs and longer peices. And whilst there was some dread and fear during lock down, you can see from some of the song titles that there was also some daft moments when we were writing and developing songs further”.
Taken over ten bangers, “Eternal Gut Rot” sees Shower of Teeth developer further in their hard rock/punk aesthetics; progressing nicely from such rockets as “Vagabondage” and “Eccies and Accas” from earlier releases. Highlights “Long live the new flesh” and “Wizard of loneliness” see Shower develop their sound into deeper, more expansive, moments; pushing their force into more hard edged yet sensitive elements.
“When we worked together in lockdown we really bonded over riffs and also a general spiral into madness and I think part of that was to change our approach to our music and to try new things and test new ideas many of which made it through to the album.”
Combining various musical themes and production, though rooted in heavy roots, Gut is a clear progression from a band formed out of a love for heavy – yet accessible riffs – “we did try to keep a certain sound with these songs, but we do feel excited and energised both by the songs and also the opportunity to get out and play them live”.
A short tour in support of the album release is already planned (“we’ve got dates in the diary which will include a launch party in Sunderland where we think we’ll play the album front to back. We’re also hoping to get some more shows booked as soon as we can as well as some vinyl’s released soon after so there’s lots happening at the minute”) as is plans for a follow up to the album with new music. “With this album being made in lockdown there were a few delays in one way and another so we feel we’ve been living with this album for a while and so we’re already developing new songs – which is made even better by the fact that we don’t need to develop songs virtually”.
Another immediate next step for the band is clearly going back and working on earlier cuts from the album (“Kye’s a wizard on the guitar” confirms drummer Dan “and we were so impressed by all of his ideas so we do want to go back and have a look at what ideas we didn’t get to during lockdown”). With new ideas on the horizon, and also an aspiration to blend heavy riffs with positive sentiments, even Gut Rut might not slow down Shower of Teeth