Gorgatron are a five piece Death Metal band based out of the freezing depths of Fargo, North Dakota. The current lineup is made up of guitarist Coop Schuh, bassist Cam Dewald, vocalist Karl Schmidt, guitarist Paul Johnson, and drummer Matt Johnson. The band debuted their first full-length album, Torturetorium in 2010, four years later they released their 2014 full-length Inner Supremacy, and in 2020 came Pathogenic Automation. Fast forward into 2022, the band released their first EP titled Agony Reborn, complete with a cover of Sepultura’s Dead Embryonic Cells on November 4th.
Gorgatron are also releasing another full-length album next year as the band describes is a slower album. While we were doing an interview at their Agony Reborn kick off show at The Aquarium in Downtown Fargo, Karl commented, “Honestly, it’s pretty dark sounding, I’d say. We recently just got the Artwork back for that…I think with the lyrics and the riffs and everything, it’s going to be pretty dark. We’re really liking that right now.”
The album Artwork for Agony Reborn was done by Artist, CVSPE, who did a couple of Arch Enemy’s 7″ single covers for their title track Deceiver, Deceiver and Sunset Over The Empire. The Agony Reborn Artwork is one of the Artist’s rare pieces that has a little bit of color throughout the drawing. You can see the blood dripping from the eye and some purple accents on the cloak of the grim reaper character. You can see the album cover below and also check out more of the CVSPE’s work here.
The Agony Reborn EP is about being reborn as a cybernetic organism for butchery and savagery, “For Agony Reborn in particular….The previous record Pathogenic Automation, I wrote a lot of lyrics about being turned into a robot. Agony Reborn is also about being turned into a robot, but in more of a sinister and kind of….We play it off in an occult or dystopian future, that kind of vibe with that. For The Unwilling, I just wrote about what it would be like to be vaporized,” said Karl.
Fan Facts: Agony Reborn was produced by their previous guitarist, Neal Stein, who also played guitar on the EP.
Live photography by Jenna ‘The Scream Queen’
Gorgatron released a video for the third track off the Agony Reborn EP, titled The Unwilling. The video is 18+, so you have to click here to watch directly on YouTube.
Cam shared some cool details about the video, “That’s all public domain footage from the 1940’s and 50’s of psych wards, lobotomies, electric shock therapy. The funny thing about that is that it’s all public domain, for educational purposes, but that video on YouTube just got flagged for 18+. Which is kind of funny. The live footage, that was before Coop was in the band. There was footage of us playing that was at Slam Dakota Fest last Summer. So, I took that footage and threw a bunch of crazy hospital stuff on top of it. It’s pretty fucked up. It rules!”
When it comes to the Inner Supremacy album, that was where Karl began writing lyrics inspired by robots, “First song I wrote was like, “man, what if terminators had ninja training? Then we’d be really fucked.” All joking aside. That was kind of what started with that. But I also made shoe-horn lyrics about personal responsibility and reaching your potential as a Human being. And becoming a robot…But you can’t really just say “BE POSITIVE!!!! STICK TO YOUR GOALS!!!!” in Death Metal… You can’t really do that, so I’m like, “YEAH get turned into a robot by having your arms cut off!!””
Here are some more cool Fan Facts about Gorgatron and why they sound the way they do!
Coop first learned Love by Van Halen on the guitar. He commented, “I’m learning this fucking song. That was it for me.”
Matt first learned the Arise album by Sepultura.
Karl was more of a late comer to Death Metal, so the first song//album he learned vocally was Evisceration Plague by Cannibal Corpse.
Chaos A.D. by Sepultura was the first album Paul was first compelled to learn, “It was cool, but it was easy to pick up when you first started playing. So, that and Pantera riffs. Morbid Angel. Those were the big three probably for me.”
Cam, “I cut my teeth to GG Allin, Murder Junkies, Anti-Seen….Like Punk, and then I learned a bunch of Crowbar because I learned a bunch of B-tuning.”
You can catch Gorgatron on tour in Mexico from December 1st-4th where they begin the short trek in Cancun at the Bar Mora Mora, then make their way to the Hard Rock Cafe in Cozumel, followed by a show at La Pancha The Biker House in Merida, and end the tour in Campeche at the El Patio de las Butacas. They are sharing the stage with Rottenness and Cloacal Protuberance.
We also have breaking news to share! Gorgatron are set to play the Obscene Extreme Festival in Trutnov, Czech Republic next Summer! The festival is being held July 5th-9th at the Battlefield. Bands performing include Suffocation, Brujeria, Vulture, Massacre, and many more. You can check out the lineup here as well as information of how to get passes & tickets! Please note, you may need to click the English flag, unless you are fluent in Czech, to read & navigate around the website! 🙂
Agony Reborn Track List:
1. Execrated Liturgy
2. Agony Reborn
3. The Unwilling
4. Dead Embryonic Cells [Sepultura Cover]
Article & Interview by Jenna Williams ‘The Scream Queen’
