Godless
Let There Be Darkness
[Independent]
The more I listen to the quartet of tracks featured on this demo/promo release, the more the music infiltrates within, being internalized slowly but definitely, until full absorption occurs and with it, the process of falling in love...
Godless self titles its music (actually it's one, creative human, Chris Muimbwa his name) as 'Epic Death metal', epic meaning it contains a plot, a story, usually being coupled with long texts, which tell some story, having a beginning and an end and rather lengthy songs (the longest being more that fourteen minutes). No, it is not pure Death Metal by all means, nor is it a Death Metal prototype incorporating the genre's strict and numerous stereotypes. I'd rather call it Dark Metal due to the fact both the atmosphere and type of vocals (there is at least a couple of vocal types, but the one that is dominant) tend to walk the line between Death and Black Metal, with an atmosphere preset that is usually absent in Death Metal, but almost banal in the Black Metal genres and sub genres, but on the other hand, the recording possesses dynamic power to an extent that is rarely found in Black Metal. I like calling it not Black/Death (A silly hybrid) but rather Dark Metal, as before mentioned, and dark it is. The dominant vocals style is raspy, but not belly-originated monster cookie growling (usually) and somewhat on the verge of reminding the Black metal typical rasp (but more low-toned), though there are Brutal Death Metal touches, at least on the forth track. Muimbwa is an intelligent musician (only those can write an almost fifteen minutes track without being boring), his English is almost at the highest level and the lyrical issues touch the dark sides of the human soul, not something in particular, maybe even a little abstract, the triumph of darkness over the light, some Mesopotamian mythology involved, apocalyptical visions, some gothic horror movies influences, and in fact, the texts as well as the overall ambiance are laden with this gothic feel to them, gothic in the true essence (not to be mistaken with Gothic Metal, god forbid! Female vocals, Keyboards and candles on the cover are not the elements with which one can truly achieve authentic gothic façade!) and this gothic authenticity is accompanying the listener throughout the thirty something minutes of the four hypnotizing songs of which 'Let there be darkness' consists.
Regarding the relatively profound lyrics, there are some shiny sentences and interesting ideas, some are not so easily understood, some can be comprehended on an intuitive basis, and in general this album isn't something to take for granted. Even though it is not the heaviest album in the underground, the music isn't very catchy and hard to swallow on the virginal listening, and maybe even on the second and third ones. But the more It is played on the stereo, the more it grows on the listener, the more it absorbs him into its magical and dark musical netherworld, the fruit of the creative mind of Mr. Muimbwa.
The album has a lot of inner contradictions within it: On one hand, as above mentioned, though not the heaviest of albums, it's a hard to swallow one, it incorporates some Black metal influences as well as Brutal Death ones (and those two usually do not go together hand in hand). Above that, though it sounds very simplistic on the first listen, it actually bears pretty complex music (great guitar work) and the most interesting thing about it is the positive feedback it generates; The more you listen, the more you want to listen to it, no matter how many times did you push the 'play' button, the hunger for another spin of the CD-R is almost overwhelming. Chris Muimbwa has succeeded in capturing the slippery essence of the underground, and is releasing it wisely, in small quantities throughout the musical journey, and journey it is indeed. A shiny (or dark) star has been noticed in the black skies of the metal underground in the form of GODLESS, and its originator, Chris Muimbwa!
© 2002 c. drishner
Godless self titles its music (actually it's one, creative human, Chris Muimbwa his name) as 'Epic Death metal', epic meaning it contains a plot, a story, usually being coupled with long texts, which tell some story, having a beginning and an end and rather lengthy songs (the longest being more that fourteen minutes). No, it is not pure Death Metal by all means, nor is it a Death Metal prototype incorporating the genre's strict and numerous stereotypes. I'd rather call it Dark Metal due to the fact both the atmosphere and type of vocals (there is at least a couple of vocal types, but the one that is dominant) tend to walk the line between Death and Black Metal, with an atmosphere preset that is usually absent in Death Metal, but almost banal in the Black Metal genres and sub genres, but on the other hand, the recording possesses dynamic power to an extent that is rarely found in Black Metal. I like calling it not Black/Death (A silly hybrid) but rather Dark Metal, as before mentioned, and dark it is. The dominant vocals style is raspy, but not belly-originated monster cookie growling (usually) and somewhat on the verge of reminding the Black metal typical rasp (but more low-toned), though there are Brutal Death Metal touches, at least on the forth track. Muimbwa is an intelligent musician (only those can write an almost fifteen minutes track without being boring), his English is almost at the highest level and the lyrical issues touch the dark sides of the human soul, not something in particular, maybe even a little abstract, the triumph of darkness over the light, some Mesopotamian mythology involved, apocalyptical visions, some gothic horror movies influences, and in fact, the texts as well as the overall ambiance are laden with this gothic feel to them, gothic in the true essence (not to be mistaken with Gothic Metal, god forbid! Female vocals, Keyboards and candles on the cover are not the elements with which one can truly achieve authentic gothic façade!) and this gothic authenticity is accompanying the listener throughout the thirty something minutes of the four hypnotizing songs of which 'Let there be darkness' consists.
Regarding the relatively profound lyrics, there are some shiny sentences and interesting ideas, some are not so easily understood, some can be comprehended on an intuitive basis, and in general this album isn't something to take for granted. Even though it is not the heaviest album in the underground, the music isn't very catchy and hard to swallow on the virginal listening, and maybe even on the second and third ones. But the more It is played on the stereo, the more it grows on the listener, the more it absorbs him into its magical and dark musical netherworld, the fruit of the creative mind of Mr. Muimbwa.
The album has a lot of inner contradictions within it: On one hand, as above mentioned, though not the heaviest of albums, it's a hard to swallow one, it incorporates some Black metal influences as well as Brutal Death ones (and those two usually do not go together hand in hand). Above that, though it sounds very simplistic on the first listen, it actually bears pretty complex music (great guitar work) and the most interesting thing about it is the positive feedback it generates; The more you listen, the more you want to listen to it, no matter how many times did you push the 'play' button, the hunger for another spin of the CD-R is almost overwhelming. Chris Muimbwa has succeeded in capturing the slippery essence of the underground, and is releasing it wisely, in small quantities throughout the musical journey, and journey it is indeed. A shiny (or dark) star has been noticed in the black skies of the metal underground in the form of GODLESS, and its originator, Chris Muimbwa!
© 2002 c. drishner