30 Years Ago: GOREFEST record Tangled in Gore

Daily Noise - / 2019

30 Years Ago: GOREFEST record Tangled in Gore

We were all really proud of that tape, and I think we captured something that struck a chord with a lot of people in the dutch death metal scene. It might have been the catchiness of the tunes, which in turn came from the bare and basic song structures and our primal musical skills - we didn't do anything we would not be able to reproduce as a live unit, and kept the experimenting to a minimum. But those bare essentials forcibly gave us a clear framework on which we could build, and that in turn built us as a band I guess.

Frank Harthoorn / Gorefest interview, Tough Riffs, 2016

Over a week in Totem Studios, Bleiswijk, Netherlands, GOREFEST recorded their first demo, Tangled in Gore, completing work on this day in 1989.

It was certainly MY first time [in a studio]. JC had already done some demoing with hardcore band Sjolmord. Alex, being a few years older and playing in bands for 5 or 6 years, was way more experienced than any of us. I think Marc may have had some hours in a studio as well, but for me it was a whole new thing. To my recollection it went quite well. There was the usual headbutting over levels, but in the end I think we got it down just the way we wanted it. JC nailed his vocals, he sounded so brutal on those songs.

Frank Harthoorn / Gorefest interview, Tough Riffs, 2016

We tried out a couple of names, like Leprosy, Abhorrence, or the quite wonderful Condemned Heretics, before I threw Gorefest in there. We all agreed it was catchy and it fit the lyrics and music at the time, so that was that. Our earliest rehearsals took place in the attic of the building where JC had his apartment. We were in the middle of the city and totally not sound proofed, so we had to try and find a way to get our ideas together without getting JC kicked out of his pad. We more or less wrote Decomposed and Tangled In Gore there, with just two guitars through some old tube radios, JC trying out some vocal patterns and Marc figuring out the drums on a few cushions I think. Once we had those two songs we started rehearsing with a full backline in local club 't Beest, which was the meeting place in town for the alternative scene - metalheads, punks, goths, the odd reggae band. I still work at that place as a local promotor. Nothing much changes in Goes.

Frank Harthoorn / Gorefest interview, Tough Riffs, 2016