God - The Anatomy of Addiction (1994)^{Release ID: 1659}

OH BOY . What an album, what a journey.  You know, I started this listen very optimistic, the first track, I thought, hey, this isn't too bad, kinda rough production, underground sounding, experimental, lets keep going......but...it got worse not better, or even the same... The kazoo sounds in Body Horror  were a brave choice really but honestly were far better executed Frank Zappa when he used them. ( yes I know its actually a clarinet but its recording or technique or something left much to be desired) and then whatever followed in Lazarus that sounded sort of like a bad didgeridoo. The only piece after the opener that I didn't cringe during was Bloodstream ( before the minute and a half of heartbeat over violin pulls). As I continued to listen I had to wonder, " Is there only one  bass riff on this album?" Maybe, it felt like it. There was so little variation of it when it was featured that  i can still here the do do- do do do. pattern . ON driving the demons out I happened to exclaim outloud " OH BONGOS"  and my husband replied " Whats astonishing is no matter how many instruments you play, if you play them badly, its still bad and it doesn't matter if they keep adding more" honestly. That really resonated with me as I pondered what was happening. That sentence ties together this album pretty well as a thought. I actually LIKE noise, in general, but the composition of a lot of these tracks did not work for me as it felt forced and kind of pretentous when I listened to it. The sound was raw in a way like you didn't bake your chicken long enough, not in a way that made me feel any real emotion which was dissapointing for something that had so many people worked on in this outfit. After this album the only thing this band produced were some live albums. I looked into it becuase I had to see what was going on with them. Most of the band members don't even have wiki pages. or if they do they say " This person worked with Martin on God and maybe one of his other projects". Aside from Broaderick who is well known in his own right for Godflesh ( which is a much better outfit) and Martin himself who unfortunately went on to continue making music, although he shifted into calling himself The Bug and focused on becoming more of an electric/ dubstep guy. I gave this one star for really going for something here in the way that an elementry teacher gives all the students a gold star for trying their best. Good effort there boys. Go ahead though and keep the day jobs.

The Anatomy of Addiction is a highly dense record with a lot going on, but not much to grab onto. It has a variety of styles and influences present across the nearly 80 minute runtime, and in no way is this a regular Industrial Metal album. In fact, I have reservations about calling this Metal at all; sure it’s got some harsh vocals, drums and a guitar, but this is heavy in much the same way as Swans’ early material was. It’s not metallic.

There are pretty much two things that go on here that I can’t stand;

- One or more instruments will repeat one simple beat, melody, or sound over and over, sometimes for minutes, and it’s never anything good enough worth repeating that long

- One or more instruments will break out into free improvisation, doing stuff with no sense of rhythm or key or anything pleasant at all. Just to sound as chaotic as possible.

I will say that for what it is, it’s not poorly done. I do think they achieved what they wanted here. I just happen to strongly dislike it.

Wow! I had no idea what I was in for with this monster of a record. The scope & breadth of the "industrial metal" subgenre tag is simply not wide enough to encompass all of the elements at play here. I wasn't aware of it until now but God was essentially a supergroup project of sorts with approximately ten experienced musicians contributing to an epic 79 minutes of unapologetically experimental & highly challenging music made specifically for open-minded music fans with a taste for the cerebral & psychedelic. Most of the individual names were completely foreign to me but I can certainly hear the experience & talent in what they've delivered.

Many reviewers will probably suggest that "The Anatomy Of Addiction" is overly repetitive but I think that's just an indication that a lot of people don't have the patience required for this sort of art which aims directly for your cerebral cortex a lot of the time. Upon first listen you'll be left in no doubt whatsoever of the presence of Godflesh/Jesu mastermind Justin Broadrick as there are tracks here that sound exactly like classic Godflesh with some additional elements thrown into the mix. However possibly even more of the tracklisting is closer to the sound of Swans' more expansive experimental rock excursions with long, slowly-building & repetitive tracks that are full of tension & atmosphere. The jazz component is noteworthy with the more insane saxophone use reminding me of Naked City & the more laidback moments hinting at the influence of Miles Davis' late 60's/early 70's jazz fusion period. You'll also detect a significant dose of dub in the way that some of these pieces are structured, especially in the use of the bass guitar as a musical protagonist on some of the more extended & expansive tracks with the guitar & saxophone being used more for colour & texture than melody. There's a tribal percussion element at play too which really adds to the atmosphere without ever pushing things into ambient territory. Honestly, the vocals of Kevin Martin might as well by Justin Broadrick because they sound so similar that you'd be forgiven for thinking it was indeed him. Kevin's broken & repetitive phrasing & lyrical style is basically identical to Justin's trademark bark & it leaves me with a welcome feeling of familiarity a lot of the time.

This is truly intriguing & interesting stuff & I never find myself getting bored despite the excessive length of the album. There are no weak tracks with God exuding an air of class & consistency about everything they touch. The few highlight tracks are nothing short of magnificent & leave me disappointed that I can't rate the album a little higher than I have. I guess I just can't quite see "The Anatomy Of Addiction" becoming an all-time favourite despite the fact that I have difficulty in faulting it. I think that's because I find a good portion of the tracklisting to leave me thoroughly impressed with the ambition & execution but not quite drooling uncontrollably due to the lack of a knockout punch. Nonetheless, I can't recommend the album enough to people that are interested in a more cerebral & internally focused brand of experimental rock/metal music. That certainly won't be everyone & if you find that you don't get it then you'll likely be in good company. Those that do have the patience for a record like this one will being thoroughly rewarded for the effort though. And another thing... don't even think about giving it a one-off spin because it needs a little more time than that.

For fans of Godflesh, Swans & Naked City.