This album is a truly amazing piece of work--and I say this as a person who does not handout a 5 star review easily. I bought it years ago when I was a Christian, and after all this time I recently rediscovered it and it is even better than I remembered.
It's a bit of everything--alot of Jyro's voice soaring majestically and passionately over epic riffs combined with sweeter moments and poetic lyrics that always, always serve the music. I've always loved the sound they got on the guitars--huge and heavy, but warm not abrasive; a beautiful ear candy kind of heavy distortion that is often enough as head-banging as ever. There is just something majestic about this album (had to say that word again). The perfect example of, I think, an album that balances a unified sound with creative variety. It starts with an eq'ed mechanical rhythm and distorted guitar just to make you think this is an industrial-influenced Fathom II and after 30 seconds it kicks into hard rock band mode (just drums, guitar, bass mostly). Epic rock, sweet acousticy moments between, some melodic pop rock for a couple of songs, epic ballad rock... It's all just very prime stuff. Even the softer moments feel 'big', like: the dream-pop/arenagazer ballad 'Oceanful'. 'Oceanful' is a major accomplishment and one of my favorites.
I would be perfectly happy if this were the only album I had on a desert island. Every song is a keeper and I am particularly vulnerable to the mix of emotional textures, the yin/yang of the lush hard rock with the quieter melodies and poetic heart. They compliment each other and everything comes together under a unifying cosmic-sounding oceanic production. It feels mystical, expansive, big but from the inside-out not the other way around (an internal, not an impersonal kind of epic)... part of a dream. This is truly inspiring rock--not just because the lyrics aspire to be, though they do hit their mark--but because whatever spirit or god Jyro is channeling in his search to make the best music possible is delivering here. The musical accomplishment is undeniable.
The melodies are gorgeous. And as always, the arrangements are inventive, the music is so well-thought out ('Oceanful' is a perfect example of all this) it benefits from repeated listens. Most of the songs have different movements to them which are expertly tied together; they don't ever sound tacked together and they add to the song. Jyro seems to know just when to withhold a chorus, when to go into one, when to slide into a bridge, when to break it down into a balladric aside then a riff-fest then get right back to a powerful chorus (see 'Sold')...or whatever the song needs. Mortal *has* to be considered one of the all-time best christian artists, and this album is essential to that argument. If Mortal had not already established themselves as an evolvement of the industrial genre this album would have probably received more attention. As it is, it stands alone and apart from the other Mortal albums and the morph to pop-rock Fold Zandura that came after (as does the rare Intense Live Series EP, an essential listen as well).
The album's true ending seems to be 'Sold'/'god of 3 strings' but you get bonus tracks: a straight Beatle's cover 'Nowhere Man' and an evil-sounding industrial 'to my Darling Whippoorwill' outro track that sounds like something else entirely and about the only growling you are going to hear here.
Don't be misguided by the mentions of "alternative" or Nirvana or grunge coming up in some other reviews; it might be considered alternative (whatever that means) or alternative-rock in comparison with the alternative-industrial-hypersoul of the previous Mortal records (and in the minds of fans preferential to those records), and there is an influence of the music of the period, but it could not be described as grunge rock. It's just too lush and crafted. It's a very special record that I think easily achieves its own identity.
It's too bad that all christian musicians don't create sounds that are christian in nature instead of just ideology while the music itself remains borrowed. The whole album just *feels* spiritual, true, pure in nature. Jyro's faith is in the sounds themselves, and it makes for very original music and a different listening experience. It is also just a great pop album that people of any faith or nonfaith can appreciate. And there's no 'preaching down' being done here. Jyro is perfectly happy writing a love song (there are a few) or a song of vitriol or a serene instrumental as he is expressing his passion for the divine and the divinity in creation itself. Much of the imagery is natural: sun, moon, stars, waterfalls, oceans, and those are the images that remain with me after listening to the album because the the whole sound of the album harmonizes with them.
Not sure why there is a hindu god dancing on the cover...
(Note: On 'Sold', and perhaps on 'Serpent-teen as well', it's interesting to hear Jyro complain about the so-called 'christian' music industry when it was in its heyday.)
Oceanfuls...
No "Fathom"
14 tracks
