The
Union Jack Prog/Psych Metal pt. III: Death Star
Tony's
notes: The album art was created by Duncan Storr who did most of
Skyclad's discography and the classic album Crimson of Edge of
Sanity.
Golgotha
is one of the few NWOBHM bands who lived to see the 90s, this doesn't
made them a successful band though!. With their full lenght albums
released early during the decade, the band explored pretty weird
lands. Almost void of anything metal, Unmaker
of Worlds seems
to go in no direction whatsoever but feels pretty cohesive for some
reasons I can't really explain. It's like a painting using so many
different colours that doesn't seem to fit together but because of
some unfathomable talent, it works and it has this determined aura
that tried to prove that “hey, I did it! I managed to mix that and
it doesn't suck! Ha!”
Six years after the Dangerous
Games EP,
it's not the same band we can find here. It's not folky and changed
its influence from Jethro Tull and Gentle Giant heavy rockin' groove
NWOBHM metal to something more subdued. Golgotha became a solo
project of Karl Foster after the 1980s and I don't know what he did
during this long hiatus but it was probably pretty interesting, I'm
sure of something though, he was really into the Peter Gabriel era of
Genesis (their best era by the way and if you don't agree, you might
as well agree that your musical taste sucks). The style featured here
is hard to pinpoint, it has this healthy dose of synths without being
too cheesy and it has this awesome classical influence without trying
too hard. The four songs are long and intricate and gives the
opportunity to the musician, he's on his own here and that's before
the one man band trend found in metal, to really shine. The songs are
eleven minutes on average and they don't feel like they're that long.
There's also a big AOR/classic rock influence here, especially on the vocals. If you hate the rock found in the 80s, stay away from that band. Foster also finds the time to join the neo prog movement, indeed Golgotha is not quite dissimilar to the rocking side of Marilion's early career. It's basically a weirder and out there Genesis mixed with some experimental touches and even more theatricality such as the ending of the title track. It's pretty hard to pinpoint the band but if you always felt like Steve Hackett's guitar playing wasn't heavy enough, well now here's your chance! The keyboard and the organ are still the main aspect of their sound and it's supported by heavy rock guitars and an efficient drum machine.
The
album, has I said, shouldn't quite work on paper but its diversity is
impressive and the songwriting is incredible. It's underrated status
probably comes from its release date, 1990 wasn't a big time for
either progressive rock nor metal but this album needs to be heard as
it's a work of beauty. Unmaker
of Worlds ends
with a fabulous ballad with awesome high clean vocals and pure
emotional weight. Well done symphonic progressive rock with a metal
oomph from time to time.
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