San Jose/Santa Cruz, CA, band Gulch has been making waves, sharing members with Drain, Hands Of God, and Spinebreaker, as well as playing crushing sets at This Is Hardcore and Sound And Fury, and bring an ugly, metallic brand of hardcore punk that stays away from metalcore but pushes into the realm of dirty crust, D-beat, death metal, and thrash. This record compiles both the band's debut 7" "Burning Desire To Draw Last Breath," which sold out quickly, and their debut demo cassette. Now available again on colored vinyl. 12"ep includes a digital download and a silkscreened B-side. Rarely is 13 minutes of life this intense. Taking in Burning Desire to Draw Last Breath by the San Jose sonic terrorists Gulch is a harrowing, hopeless, and despicably addictive journey through myriad genres of extreme music; leaving me completely exhausted and blanched of color. Being brutalized has never sounded so impeccable. Perhaps, my favorite 7" of the year thus far, opener "Contemplate/Enact" is a false flag of the highest order, a sinister and graven electronic intro that wouldn't be out of place on a Dalek LP, soundtracking the inevitable rebellion of the machines. Ominous feedback begins to swell and squeal until all calm is violently usurped by an onslaught of drums from which we never return. Gulch revels in filth, somehow managing to seamlessly incorporate D-beat, crust, metallic hardcore, punk, and the gnarliest of death metal into an odorous and punk as fuck mélange. They're just as likely to vacillate between vicious thrash leads and primordial hardcore sludge as they are metal and blast beats, creating an uneasy and ultimately unpredictable listen.