WARNING:
Obsessive and highly addictive music. Proceed with caution. Failure to do so may trigger bouts of uncontrollable shape-throwing, frenzied screaming and mild schizophrenia.....you have been warned.
Believe the hype folks, God Alone are everything you’re hearing through the grapevine. Without question, these guys are some of the brightest and talented lads in the business, with a work ethic that is steadily paying dividends. Bands like God Alone are as scarce as hens teeth, and the reason I say that is because there are no boundaries or perimeters to their sound. The guys are young and enthusiastic, and have decades of music to study and seek inspiration from, and they are doing exactly that. Very few bands that I can think of can merge, blend and synthesize genres and styles with such ease and virtuosity. The dexterity they showed on their previous releases was like a warning shot fired high over Shandon Steeple. However, their latest album release, ETC, resembles a twenty-one gun salute off the Old Head Of Kinsale! The echo from those rifles can be heard across the pond and beyond. So, with that in mind, it’s about time we listen, embrace and bear witness to one of our finest underground bands break the mould.....when I say break, I mean shattering it to smithereens!
Tinfoil On The Walls opens the album with some unconventional percussions followed by plucky guitars and a spew of mathy rock and hardcore chants. Funky, Jazzy melodies and dare I even say ska-inspired grooves, seep their way through deathcore growls, pummeling bass guitars and shuddering riffs. The swagger and the confidence within themselves is evident as the tempo shifts and slides through indie inspired passages and non-conformant rants.
Tracks like Kung Fu Treachery harbour a darker soul than the others. Amidst its opening spanish guitars and post punk chants there’s an air of apprehension and impending doom. Erratic at times you might think, but on further listens you’ll find it’s as structured as it is disjointed. God Alone’s music is not for the faint hearted or for the verse, chorus, verse brigade. As Kung Fu Treachery rumbles through its varied patterns and tendencies, it closes in a vicious slurry of blast beats and shredded guitars, which will keep many a metal head happy.
The title track ETC attacks with a motley of metal as Ministry, And So I Watch You From Afar, Rob Zombie, The Clash and Suicidal Tendencies all fly their flags alongside the God Alone monogram. Then you have the post-metal apocalypse that is 15BM 1989 Honestly, I’m struggling to nail this bastard down! Unorthodox and down right eccentric, it’s a barrage of music and noise that will have your head spinning and rolling across the floor, mad stuff!
God Alone are not for everyone, I think thats fair to say and I’ll be honest, I sat quietly in the shadows of that group of people for a while. However, there will be a moment when the proverbial "switch" will finally go off in you head and you get that "Rain Man" moment, when all the nuances, tempos, and styles assemble together before your eyes like a 5000 piece jigsaw. It will all make sense. The conclusion I have come to is that God Alone are operating on a different scale to the rest of us, they’re always two steps ahead. They have the imagination and the foresight to keep evolving, and us mere mortals should simply follow.