Gods Among Men "s/t" CD
[Sardonic]
Hmmm... I'm not into it. I'll give 'em credit for being very ambitious and having a creative vision, which I admire, but this just isn't working for me at all. This is kind of like some weird avant-garde concoction where pulsing basslines and dissonant guitars mesh with borderline tribal percussive patterns, viola, and a slew of vocal approaches. There's screaming, there's growling, and there are the lead vocals, which are this weird sort of monotonous female croon, often getting quite overdramatic for my tastes. And the songs are long as shit, most between five and eight minutes, so things kind of drag on forever and plunge through tons of different noisy passages and weird guitar sounds with lots of moderate tempos. I just can't get into it at all. I like the drumming and I like the growling vocals, but the screaming bugs me and I'm totally not feeling the singing (in this content anyway), nor the music itself for that matter. Almost every guitar part on the entire record is sheer obnoxious discordance, so there's very little to grab onto aside from the drums and vocals. Plus, there are several weird little instrumental/noise interludes, which breaks up the listen even more on an overly long and overly jumbled full-length. They kind of sound like they'd like to be the kind of band that would be at home on Neurot Recordings, and in theory they sort of are, their execution just falls flat. I mean, shit, "Nihilistic Rangers" is an awful song through and through. It's literally harder to listen to this than any Merzbow track, you know what I mean? Totally annoying. The recording is alright. A little rough in spots, but the tones are okay. I just think the mix needs to benefit the bass playing more, because the guitars are a little loud and caustic, and the singing vocals are much fuller than the aggressive styles. I'm bothered by the songwriting though, so issues with the recording take a definite back seat (but I will confess that it's mastered awfully quietly). I'm torn on the layout. The simple coloring and illustrations on the cover kind of look nice, but everything else is a little plain and rough, with the text inside the booklet breaking up just a little bit. The lyrics are really odd, at times hinting at potentially socio-political topics, other times clearly more personal, but definitely unusual: "Disappear saying it's wrong but I still form the link, Just start at the place where my head stands holding up the sky, And I feel the correction I have in the light that holds me, Spilling off the sign, Staring up at its greatness, I press up against it, I know I'm alive." Fuck. I hate to give this such a low score, I really do, but this is a bad CD. Flat out. They've got great ideas, they're creative, and I respect that, I wish them well, but this is a really irritating CD and I can barely sit through the entire thing. Being 100% honest I think the female vocalist (who is a damn fine bassist) should find a new band whose music would better suit her singing style, something darker and more coherent than this - artistic yet tangible, you know? And the drummer should find a new band within which to continue being a great drummer. The guitarist... well, the guitar parts on this record are absolutely horrible, so maybe that dude should start a noise band or get down with some fucked up post-jazz art school people or something, I don't know. There's a lot of talent and a lot of vision wrapped up in this thing, but the end result is still unfortunately painful. Sorry. (4/10)
Running time - 46:06, Tracks: 10
[Notable tracks: I'm really not into any of these songs]
Sardonic Sounds - http://www.sardonicsounds.com

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