Self Inflicted Mental Terror

I had a lot of musical surprises last year. Things that I never expected to like, and would have previously dissed and dismissed, but sitting down and approaching it with an open mind was shocked to find some bands that I really enjoy. One of my favorite surprises was Gulch.

Gulch were around a few years ago, and I remember at the time making assumptions that I would not like them. They were associated with record labels that didn't hold much interest for me, and I just assumed that they would be some shitty modern hardcore sounding band... whatever the fuck that might mean. So yeah, I avoided them. Then last Fall, a friend shared their song Self Inflicted Mental Terror with me, and with my first listen it was everything I expected it to be. It was noisy and chaotic with some over the top vocals throughout, and I didn't like it. It didn't fit that straight forward hardcore sound that is my default setting. Still, the song ended up on a playlist that I was visiting frequently, and after a handful of listens I started to settle in and get it. Then, before I knew it, everything that made me intially pull back from it, was exactly what I loved about the song. It had me thinking of the chaotic and noisy stuff from the 90's, like Rorschach and Born Against, and then I was visiting the entire Impenetrable Cerebral Fortress album regularly and I needed to own record.

Side note: Self Inflicted Mental Terror came up on a Spotify playlist when I was in the car with my wife recently, and I was trying to explain to her how I didn't think that I'd like it at all when I first heard it, but that I absolutely love it now... and her response was, "Really? It sounds exactly like the other stuff you listen to." Maybe she knows my music taste better than I do.

I thought that I'd hate the look of this colored vinyl, but I actually think it looks great next to the crazy cover art. Since I was so late discovering Gulch, I paid a bit more for the vinyl off of Discogs, but the $35 that I spent is nothing compared to the seller that has one listed now at $300. Good luck with that, pal. Limited to 300.