GODZILLA

1. "Godzilla" (43:00) opening with Mellotron-drenched heaviness like Italy's DAAL, the vocals of Emmanuelle Olmo-Cayuela are, I'm afraid, an acquired taste--something my ears and brain have failed to acquire (much less tolerate) successfully after four listens. She has such an odd range and styling for the female lead vocalist--and she seems to be constantly struggling to stay on pitch. Nice acoustic guitar work in the pastoral section but nothing very virtuosic, only a progression of arpeggiate chords all played with the same tinger-picked pattern and tempo, but I like the switch from major to minor keys--and Emmanuelle's choices of melody during this section. At 5:28 we are off and running in a more abrasive, DAAL-like passage with Emmanuelle stretching her voice both dynamically and in pitch (though I like the Eliana Valenzuela [of Chilean band Homínido] power she projects here). A brief quiet down passage with Manu's whispers is followed by a section that contains Manu's worst vocal passages. Some cool ideas she just doesn't have the control to pull them off. I love the instrumental palette of the instrumental tenth minute--probably my favorite part of the suite. The next motif is in a bit of an odd time signature and founded in a powerful church organ but then transitions into a brief guitar power chord bridge to a smoother theme. By this point (approaching the one-third mark) the poor drum sound is really starting to grate on me. The move to front of the chunkier jazz-funk bass is cool, though. In the fifteenth minute two guitars solo in their own worlds over the jazz-funk theme. At 15:25 everything stops for pipe organ and Manu to transition us to a brief cinematic guitar solo over "harp", but then we return to a previous theme for a short bit before interesting cinematic "old time" organ transfers us to a more classic four chord blues rock progression over which organ and guitar solo in an URIAH HEEP/early YES kind of way. Manu's regurgitating of the previously established dominant melody takes us out of this and into an eerie doldrums waiting area. Then, at 20:13 guitar and clavichord/organ take us into a kind of IL BALLETTO DI BRONZO passage of psychological frenzy before we are suddenly dropped into a rather idyllic and quite melodic fully-formed ostinato-based motif that borrows quite openly from MIKE OLDFIELD's Incantations from the end of the 20th minute through the 24th minutes we are firmly anchored in that groove--though there is a shift at 23:03 into a bit of a different Oldfield motif--over which Manu sings (almost in an uncanny imitation of the great MADDY PRIOR from Oldfield's original recordings of the album). Even with tempo and instrumental palette changes over the successive minutes, the music still bears quite a striking resemblance to several of Mike Oldfield's 1970s works or themes--including the guitar tones selected for the lead guitar and keys in the 29th minute. Godzilla is still in the cave at the 30-minute mark, though he is here being hailed as the "Messiah." The alternating acoustic guitar pastoral passages and electric guitar-dominated themes are still well within the Oldfield catalog of referents until finally a new GENESIS-like motif is introduced a the 32-minute mark. Another slow, pastoral section in the 36th minute is extinguished in the second half of the 37th minute by a bombastic and melodic motif elevated by Emmanuelle's spirited vocalise. While the music is delightfully complex in its many sudden twists and turns as well in its recapitulations of several recurrent themes, the production feels weak, the vocalist is challenged (despite her obvious confidence and bravery), the subject matter of questionable interest or accuracy, and many of the motifs "incomplete." If there is one other high point in the album's existence, it is for the feeling of a wonderfully cohesive band working together with all their hearts on this project. (75/85)

Total Time 43:00

I must admit, the origin story purported by this band/in this album is rather odd--taking over 28 minutes to hatch, grow up, and emerge from his cave home. I'm guessing that this piece of music is meant to only present us with the birth, development, and debutante of the "messiah" monster, not really getting into his mischief and mayhem. Does that mean we should be expecting further installments of the story of the King of the Monsters from this band in the future? Though the song's opening notes seem to indicate an adherence to the heaviness of the original film soundtrack themes, this does not remain so as the song in the second half becomes more like a celebratory homage to early Mike Oldfield and Genesis's "Supper's Ready." Also, the sound engineering (overall mix, drum sound, and compressed feeling of all the instruments' tracks) is what I'd call substandard--as if it was accomplished with less-than top-notch equipment.

B+/four stars; an excellently rendered prog epic that, unfortunately, contains room for improvement. I hope that future projects of this band, should they choose to stay together, might include better engineering and/or mixing facilities (or personnel) while retaining their excellent spirit of adventure and confidence.

Share this AUDIO'M review

Social review comments () BETA

---

---

Review related links

• Send comments to BrufordFreak
• Report this review (#2857681)
• Buy AUDIO'M music online with PA partners
• Show all AUDIO'M MP3/Stream
• Go to AUDIO'M page for videos, full discography with ratings, reviews and much more
• Go to Godzilla page for more details, where to buy and ratings/reviews
• Search the Forum for AUDIO'M related discussions