MONSTER IN THE CREEK

I found this band through the re-recorded version of their debut album, Metridium Fields. Hearing that album, I absolutely fell in love with this band. Their music compelled me the way few bands do, with their combination of excellent textures, juxtaposition of soft in heavy within their songs, and awesome storytelling abilities. This band is one that can drag you into the deepest despair with their music, through all the darkest parts of the human mind, but offer you a ray of hope at the end, like a beam of sunlight that occasionally reaches the deepest fathoms of the sea. The lyrics of Giant Squid tend to relate to the sea, and the music is fitting. I was extremely glad to find out that Giant Squid was re-releasing a limited amount of copies of this e.p., since I've been eager to get my hands on everything they've done since acquiring Metridium Fields last summer. This e.p. was released in between recordings of their debut album (they self released a version called Metridium Field and then re-recorded and released Metridium Fields two years later). This features a different line up then the version of Metridium Fields with which I am familiar. keyboards are much more prominent, often featuring an either jazzy or electronic/dance music feel. The drumming is also at times very jazzy. Despite these differences, the core of the band's sound is the same. Songs often build from minimalistic melodies into dirges which have the ability to drag every bit of hope out of the human soul. This album is partially based on the Jersey Shore Shark Attacks of 1916. Monster in the Creek starts of with some dance sounding keyboard passages over soft guitar playing and female vocals and then builds to a very heavy riff with some harsher male vocals. Dead Man's Fog is a consistently soft song. Here the keyboards take the back seat for the most part, and provide some haunting atmospheres. Age of Accountability is probably the jazziest number here, with some jazzy sounding electric piano parts and trade offs between male and female vocals. Towards the end, though, it transforms into something much heavier, and the vocals become harsher to complement the music. Throwing a Donner Party is probably the most consistently heavy number here, with a healthy amount of distorted guitars and harsh vocals, mixed with some electronic keyboards. Dare We Ask the Widow is another good juxtaposition of light and heavy, with the lighter parts being pretty jazzy and the heavier parts pretty doomy. Lester Stillwell is the only instrumental piece on the album, named after a boy who died in the Jersey Shore Shark Attacks. Keys dominate this one, and it sounds as if it could come out of a level on a 1980's video game because of that keyboard sound. It's hard to pick favourites out of those songs, as they're consistently great, though nothing is really what I would consider a masterpiece, though I believe that if any modern band is capable of writing something at masterpiece level, then it's Giant Squid. I highly recommend them to any fan of music because I sincerely believe that this band has something to offer to people of all sorts of tastes.

"Monster in the Creek" is an EP released in 2005 by US experimental rock/ metal act Giant Squid. It is Giant Squid´s second release (not counting the self-released "Revolution in the Water/Ampullae of Lorenzini" single from 2001)and was released through the Tyrannosaurus Records label before the band got signed to The End Records label. Giant Squid´s debut album "Metridium Field (2004)" (which was also released though Tyrannosaurus Records) was re-recorded in 2006 and released as the band´s first effort for The End Records. I haven´t listened to the original version of "Metridium Field" so "Monster in the Creek" is actually my first encounter with the band´s music. This might be an EP but the running time is 34:43 so there´s lots of quantity as well as quality on this release.

The music on "Monster in the Creek" is post rock with occasional nods toward post metal. The music features both male and female vocals which add great diversity to the atmosphere of the songs. The mood ranges from melancholic, to aggressive to at times almost happy (just listen to "Lester Stillwell"). In addition to guitar, bass and drums there are some very dominant keyboards featured in the songs. Those keyboard motifs give the songs some of their unique sound IMO. The male vocals have an emo edge to them and it took me some time to appreciate them but when Aaron Gregory sings in a more aggressive style he reminds me of Jello Biafra (Dead Kennedys, Lard...etc) and the song "Throwing A Donner Party" actually has some punk leanings. There are some really beautiful sections in some of the songs as well and I would like to mention Aurielle Gregory´s singing in the songs "Monster in the Creek", "Dead Man's Creek" and "Dare We Ask the Widow?" as one of the highlights on the EP.

The musicianship is excellent. This is a really well playing band.

The production is solid but nothing out of the ordinary.

"Monster in the Creek" is a great surprise to me and I will definitely seek out the rest of Giant Squid´s discography too. A 3.5 - 4 star rating and a big recommendation from me is deserved. An excellent adventurous release from a very promising band. I can´t wait to listen to more.