Artist: God Is
Title: MK:II
Type: Album
Label: Self Released

Apparently God Is recorded MK:I back in 2006 to accompany a short animated film and this album is the sequel, if you will. Now, I didn’t hear MK:I, there is little about this band to be found anywhere and truth be told this is the first I have heard of them. When the album came through the letterbox I whacked it on the stereo and gave it a rather un-attentive half-assed listen while I was getting on with other things and obviously my ears picked out one or two moments of intrigue that caused me to bung it on my review pile without much thought. Sure enough, there are one or two points where things get interesting, but whether or not it’s worth listening through the best part of an hour of such tedium to find them is a different matter entirely.

‘Cloven’ for example hisses at you through the speakers, dragging out a solitary bass-note for what seems like an eternity and before you know it we are at ‘The Portal’ and things haven’t really moved anywhere until they suddenly flatline with a disconcerting hospital bleeeeeeeeep. I enjoy music that fucks with my head, music that makes me feel a sense of unease or that I can really visualise, but MK:II does none of that (for an example of something in a similar style that DOES work check out Tele S Therion). The best images my brain can conjure up to accompany this piece of music is of a bloke stood in his basement under scarce light mucking about with an effects pedal and recording himself tuning up his bass guitar. Nope, sorry, I wish I could say that’s the sort of thing that gets my engine ticking (no, strike that, I really don’t), but it doesn’t. I wish I could say that it makes me want to jump out of the window or throw myself against a wall but the truth is that it doesn’t. Oh, I’m on track 9 already? How did that happen? I’m sure this wants me to feel ill at ease or something, but the continual distorted fuzz accompanied by nothing else and the fact that nothing really breaks it up or jumps out at you makes it little more than an endurance test.

It’s track 11 before anything remotely interesting happens; ‘The Tomb’ and it’s in the form of a drip, drip, drip…I know, but I’m clutching at straws here for crying out loud! My other half helpfully commented that it reminds him of the soundtrack to Andrey Iskanov’s Nails which I watched the other night (after two previous attempts that were thwarted by his cries of “turn it off! Noo, that music is doing my head in!) and at this particular moment perhaps I’d agree but if this was the soundtrack to a film then it would be one where it is continually building up but nothing ever happens. Actually the last track ‘Prophecy’ is the best one here, as the accompanying minimalist piano and swathing bassline work together to create a sense of despair. More of this would go a long way. I never cared much for a God, and I don’t care much more for God Is either. How to get my year off to an incredibly dull start…well I managed to stay awake through the whole thing once again so I’m going to celebrate with a much needed…zzzzzzzzzzzzz.

http://www.myspace.com/godisambient