Short Reviews [GorMusik - 2021 - "Snakes & Angels"]

2021 saw the release of the second album from GorMusik, following on from 2015’s ‘Fun In OuterSpace’. This is primarily the solo project of Gordon Bennett who originally recorded and sang everything himself, but then brought in some guests who added their talents to the record in Joseph Frick (bass), Jay T McGuinn (drums) and Peter Jones (vocals and Irish whistles) – how Peter Jones manages to contribute so much to so many albums is beyond me, but he does and is always amazing. GorMusik is a Christian prog band, and what we have here is a concept album which attempts to work through the timeline of the Bible, which is a huge task in just 67 minutes (broken into five songs). Musically there is huge variety on this, as we have heavy sections which would not sound too out of place on a Rush release, and then we have others which are acoustic with multiple guitars. This variety means one is never quite sure where the music is going to lead, and there does at times appear to be a lack of direction, meandering without a final destination in mind. In many ways this does indeed feel like a solo project as opposed to a band, as there is quite a bit of repetition, and the ending of opening 18-minute long “The Beginning” feels as if he is run out of ideas and painted himself into a corner where he is not sure quite how to get out. It is an album which is pleasant while it is being played, but even though there are some interesting passages, this is something which would have been improved if a band had worked on it together and they had undertaken some judicious editing. Not one to which I will be rapidly returning I am afraid.