OF NATURAL HISTORY

Items ordered by ending time | Showing all 10 items

Visit eBay search:'prog rock' for items
Sell your SLEEPYTIME GORILLA MUSEUM items on eBay !

Best selling order

Visit Amazon tag:'Progressive Rock' for more prog rock

This album is actually almost impossible to describe, one has to listen to it, and not only once or twice to discover its beauty and uniqueness. It's really an incredible experience and revelation listening to it. Probably one should take the lyrics not too seriously, these guys really love to mock about everything with their nice funny humour. One has just to read the "common questions" on the front cover. Or is there anybody reasonable who can take such questions seriously? Anyway they are great, the mixture of BJORK-ish vocals and SEPULTURA-alike metal together with avantgarde music is just awesome and unique. This record is in fact a 200 percent improvement to their debut, that I find absolutely unbearable, just a big mess of noise IMHO. But here with their second output they created already their masterpiece. At some moments it's a bit hard to support and slightly nerve-killing, like the longest track "Baby-Doctor", which is certainly not the best one of the album I'd like to say, but the rest is more or less quite enjoyable and for sure very unique and outstanding. I think we still can expect great things to come from this band. This album is for sure the most unique and innovative release of the year 2004 in any category of music. That's why it deserves the five stars rating!! Everybody looking for some music that is not common and ordinary should run for this one immediately!!!

Dark, disgusting, and different. Don't listen to with the lights out.

In these musicians you'll hear a heavy Henry Cow influence taking on metallic edge. Sleepytime Gorilla Museum create their sound with a wide array of instrumentation, over-dramaticized vocals, and a healthy bit of insanity. An array of homemade instruments grace this album granting a listening experience which will have you ask "What is that?" only to respond "It doesn't matter."

Of Natural History chronicles the "disease" of mankind and technology and their ultimate downfall, drawing from Dr. Theodore Kaczynski's (better known as the Unabomber) manifesto, "Industrial Society and it's Future." This makes for some interesting lyrics to back up the remarkably unique and challenging music.

Taking a look at the instrumentation one could almost expect a symphonic band. However, nothing of that sort is to be found here. Of Natural History has a distinct hard edge and a relentless chaos. The album has isn't something just for metal afficianados, while its always darka and lacking anything interms of conventiional beauty it does have its softer and slowed down moments. Of course, though it has a unique beauty all its own. If you hear something you don't like hear listen again; you probably heard wrong. Modern masterpiece.

First of all...what´s with all the Metal talk about this album? Yes, there are some Metal moments, but not enought for be taken as an Avant garde metal band... well, at least I don´t think so.

Well, but let´s get down to busines, this album is NOT for everyone. If you are a fan of beauty in music, stay as far away from this as you can. If you are openen minded...well, come right in. There is just so much in this album, to go into detail would take a whole book or so, so I´ll try to keep it simple. Well...the music... is like...mmm well, Avant garde with rabies would be a good discription, and yet I am no where near of what Sleepytime Gorilla Museum really is, this is very original music, that´s for sure. The songs sometimes aren´t really songs, but collages of sounds, rythm paterns and maybe a voice speaking, or singing in a narrative way... and other times a track is just full of complexity, melodys, soft and growling vocals, violent drumming and percussion, homemade instruments, Bjök like singing and violin solos... and you know what? They get away with it...and man do they get away with it! You can sence that all musicians are real artist, not just people playing their instruments...this is art. Actually, I think the best discription of STGM would be...Ga Ga music! So, yes, this is serious stuff... yet at times it all seems like a big joke, specially when it comes to some of the contend of the songs, which are pretty metaphoric, or alegoric should I say? A good example of this is the track "The Creature" (one of my favorites) where you have a voice telling you the story of a creature that takes advantage from a village, eating all of their food and sucking the life out of the people in exchange for protection of something...that of course never comes. Let me tell you that the lyrics here are as grotesque and down right disgusting as they come (" They learned to dinne on fecal matter, so that the creature would grow fatter")... and yet, they are brilliant. The whole album is just like that, brilliant. From time to time you forget you are listening to an album, and think this is some kind of bizarre play or creazy dream... or nightmare.

As I said before, there are homemade instruments in this album, so you get to hear some really interesting sounds that you might have never heard before... actually, I dont think you have ever heard something like Sleepytime before for that matter.

The stand out songs here are the opener "A Hymn to the Morning Star", with Nils Frykdah welcoming you to this ...thing! in a very teatrical voice, "The Donkey-Headed Adversary of Humanity Opens the Discussion" a brutal song that goes into your brain like a chainsaw, "Phthisis" with Carla Kihlstedt singing very similar to Björk, "FC: The Freedom Club", this might be the best representative of the whole album, a great song, and "The Creature", which I have already named and discrived before.

This is not some album, this is...this is something else. Excellent, but not for eveyone, yet I can´t not give this album anything but 5 stars, as this is not just outstandingly original, but succesfully good thrue out it too, a winning combination if you ask me.

A word of advice...I would not listen to this at night and alone... yet, in a sence, this might be the best way to listen to it...hmmm... might want to try it

This album has been hard to ignore with all the talk it has generated since it's release in 2004.Many have said that it is impossible to describe the music on "Of Natural History" and that you really need to experience it by listening to it.Let me tell you about my experience. "A Hymn To The Morning Star" opens with a minute and a half of not much really.There is the sound of snoring,a pump organ and a dog growling before these deep vocals enter the scene.These are contrasted with some other vocals as violin comes in later. "The Donkey-Headed Adversary Of Humanity Opens The Discussion" features angry and aggressive vocals and a soundscape to match.I think the hair on my neck stood straight up the first time i heard him say "I am the adversary" early in the song. "Phthisis" is a great tune, with female vocals and heavy drums as male vocals yell in the background. "Bring Back The Apocalypse" has various sounds to open before we get percussion and a vocal melody.A sample of someone speaking ends the song. "FC:The Freedom Club" opens with xylophone and vocals before the song kicks in instrumentally and vocally.Nice.The vocals become angry until we get back to original melody 7 minutes in.What a contrast! "Gundry's Child" opens with nature sounds as haunting female vocals come in.The song explodes before 2 minutes.It settles back down before breaking out once again in a powerful way. "The 17-Year Cicada" has various sounds that come and go as a melody is kept alive with percussion. "The Creature" is loud! Reserved vocals arrive.What a great sound 3 1/2 minutes in of guitar and drums.It comes back to end the song. "What Shall We Do Without Us?" opens with a sample of a conversation as female vocals and percussion come in followed by chaos. "Babydoctor" opens with another sample of a conversation.Male vocals with drums followed by violin and with it stronger vocals.The song becomes almost pastoral until 7 1/2 minutes in when vocals get angy and the sound becomes heavy.It ends with an atmospheric climate. "Cockroach" opens with yet another sample of a conversation.The vocals are deep like on the opening track. The " Bonus-/Hiddentrack" has another conversation between people out in the woods as you can hear nature.It ends as it began with snoring and dog sounds. Well everybody was right,you do need to experience this record by listening to it again and again.They do a great job with the way they contrast the light and heavy.There is quite a bit of sampling,and i really like the female and male vocals.And above all i like the heaviness that is on this record.For me this is a four star record right now,it may go up in the future though.It is a unique album that i think everyone should listen to at some point in their lives.

Sleepytime Gorilla Museum's debut was a shaky affair, but they really pulled things together with their sophomoric release, Of Natural History. SGM display all of their talents: good lyrics, excellent RIO composition, and custom made instruments that set them apart from everyone. The sheer complexity of this album gives Mr. Bungle and John Zorn a run for their money, and occasionally they surpass even those titans of metal in opposition. The album is conceptual and deals with mankind's ruination of the planet. Unlike most concept album, this doesn't follow a specific story (though there are several stories in the album). Rather, it present the theory of De-Evolution, created by a member of the original Sleepytime Gorilla Museum.

The album opens with two songs that are interlinked as sort of a story. A Hymn to the Morning Star, which sets up the story as they reveal the true enemy of mankind is not Satan, but the Adversary, and that Christianity, Satanism, and any other religion are too dogmatic and false. The Adversary is SGM's version of Mother Nature, as it represents every plant and creature in the world. The music fits the title, sounding like a perverse church hymn with nice vocals from Nils that get interrupted by some sinister vocals. The Donkey-Headed Adversary of Humanity Opens the Discussion continues the lyrical thread by letting the Adversary detail how he will destroy the humans who have raped the planet of its beauty. This is a masterful song that blends RIO, metal, jazz, avant-garde, and some stuff nobody has ever or will ever assign a classification to.

Now, the album focuses on the Futurists, a group who favored quick progress regardless of the costs. Phthisis is supremely heavy tune that lets Carla take over the vocals while Nils growls underneath. The spoken segments reveal the Futurist ethos, and the lyrics have an amusing attack on the Futurist philosophy, noting that the future will one day become the past, thus making everything they've attained irrelevant in the face of new change. This seems to sum up the rapid expansion of man in terms of invention and ideas, if you look at how fast we've gone from cars to rockets. Bring Back the Apocalypse is one of my favorite tunes off the album with it's great opening bass riff, and this is where the custom instruments really enter. This song probably has the weakest lyrics (essentially chanting the title of the song), but they are delivered in such a way that makes me think the whole thing is intentional rather than poorly written. Musically, it's one of the strongest tracks.

We now turn our attention to the Unabomber, whose philosophy on the dangers of technology seems to impress SGM. He is the polar opposite of the Futurists, as he wishes to return to a time without technology. FC: The Freedom Club is an avant- garde epic that has gives us spoken segments that relate some of the Unabomber's warnings against such terrors as nuclear war. The best spoken segment on the album is when the Unabomber says "the human race with technology is like an alcoholic with a barrel of wine." Sends chills down my spine every time! The song opens softly with xylophone and the Unabomber's warnings before it becomes frantic and aggressive, almost like a Mr. Bungle or Zorn tune, yet it sounds totally original.

SGM moves things along by focusing specifically on the De-Evolution theory that the album revolves around. Gunday's Child is a downright brilliant anti-war song that focuses on a series of infants born at different times as war draws ever closer. When it hits, the baby born that day will incinerated. There is a haunting lullaby in the middle that brings the Adversary back into the mix as it details the Adversary attacking a little girl. The music builds perfectly from eerie to violent and frantic to match the coming of war. The 17-Year Cicada is a killer instrumental with tribal drums and a downright scary vibe. Don't listen to this song in the dark.

The Creature takes us back to Adversary, who has now assumed total control and is using our dependence on technology to cripple us. It has an amusing spoken part at the end featuring some Southern men. What Shall We Do Without Us? presents the band's view of heaven and it features some dazzling music, especially from the violin. Babydoctor builds ever, ever so slowly until it explodes into he second half. All in all it reminds me a lot of John Zorn. The lyrics deal with individuals who have proven that even amongst the filth of humanity, there are some diamonds in the rough. The album properly ends with Cockroach, a song that is steeped in irony. A human mocks a cockroach for being inferior, yet all the flaws he lists are mirrored in humanity (i.e. trashing a once-green "lawn" is clearly a metaphor for environmental destruction). It's incredibly funny to me since I love irony and satire. The Untitled Track officially ends the album with spoken segments. It all ends with the Adversary warning us to remember what you've heard.

For a more complete summary of the concept of the album, go to progressiveears.com to read Baribrotzer's review, which has been invaluable in the creation of mine, as he managed to decipher this album's cryptic message. SGM prove themselves masters of RIO, metal in opposition, rock against rock (the genre they invented) or whatever tag is thrown their way. Of Natural History takes its place beside Mr. Bungle's Disco Volante as a classic of modern avant-prog. The music is incredibly difficult to describe; think of Zorn's most avant moments, and you'll come close to SGM. No fan of RIO should be without this seminal release.

Grade: A

Similar to other reviewers, my opinion is that nothing I have ever heard compares to this; however, that's not necessarily a good thing. I view this album from two competeting perspectives: the theme/lyrics, and the actual music. One I enjoy, the other I don't.

Here is my experience with this album: Based on reviews, I knew to expect the unexpected. I read the liner notes and cover, and these are some of the most interesting I have ever encountered. SGM basically present a parallel, reverse evolutiong theory that puts humanity in some bleak comparisons with the lesser creatures. Absolutely fascinating, with great pictures and captions as well.

Then I get to the music. It's like a movie with the plot of the Matrix (which I enjoyed thoroughly), but the special effects of early Star Wars movies. The production isn't bad, but in places the music is. I understand that's a part of RIO, and I can appreciate it to a certain extent, but I really only find a few enjoyable or fascinating moments of sound on this album. One is The Donkey-Headed Adversary of Humanity Opens the Discussion, with its rapid fire lyrics and incessant metallic clanging. It's intended to remove you from your comfort zone, and it accomplishes that (as does most of the album), but it also doesn't turn me off completely. Similarly, we have The Creature, which achieves its mission of inciting absolute disgust (lyrics about dining on fecal matter over the apparent sound of smacking lips).

That's about it for highlights in my opinion, with lots of screaming, clanging, sound effects, and other disconcerting material.

If you want anything that resembles the music you're familiar with, you won't find it here. I understand that's a reason why this album receives such high ratings. You may really enjoy the ride that SGM take you on--just know ahead of time that you will be shocked, intrigued and disgusted.

5 stars for the concept, 1 star for the music, in my humble opinion. I need more of a musical carrot to follow where SGM are leading with this album.

I find the sentiments and moral lecturing of this album objectionable and patronizing at a level that only self-indulgent musicians can reach.

It's all a bit too cliche. Hymn to the Morning Star (that would be Venus/Lucifer then wouldn't it?). Oh and the donkey headed adversary: here we go again. Metally thrashy bits that to me lack any real grating edge: too nice, too clean: trying to be a bit too clever. Nevertheless there are some nice arrangements: the closing phase is particularly pleasing to the ear apart from the needless return the pseudo thrash.

Phthisis opens with real Soundgarden strength. Carla Kihlstedt's vocal lifts this song. She's not Chris Cornell (and yeah it's Bjork like) howver, she still lifts the song way beyond mediocrity. This is followed by one of the more likable tracks: Bring Back the Apocalypse: interesting rhythms: a wee bit of jungle, a smidgeon of Goldie?? At least for a brief interlude we are not being lectured.

FC Freedom Club. Sorry, I just find this a ridiculous inane diatribe backed by equally inane thrashy interludes which almost perfectly serve to detract from the theme. Gunday's Child suffers the same ailments. the 17-year Cicada is interesting and a welcome respite.

Just when you though you might be safe to return to the listening chair the Creature comes back to remind you that break is over and it's time to be patronized and lectured again. Having listened to this album a couple of dozen times only, maybe I will find some hidden revelation later, but at the moment it takes consderable will power to listen to this track right through.

What shall we do with out us, obviously not code ubuntu. i actually quite like babydoctor.

Cockroach like this song should be squished underfoot.

bottom line, an album that patronizes and lectures backed by cliched rock.

A very impressive album indeed. I have listened to this many times to be sure of my opinion. This is a very difficult album to listen to. On one side it´s fairly melodic and suddenly disharmonic tones and strange time signatures kick in. Pretty confusing I must say and I must say that it destroys my listening pleasure somewhat.

It´s simply a little too avant garde for me, and I feel left out of the club sometimes. I have to praise the musicians playing here though as they are outstanding. The compositions are very clever and the melody lines are very original. The two singers both the male and the female command respect.

I would like to give this 4 stars for the outstanding musicianship showcased here, but I sometimes feel the music is weird for weirdness sake and that is a minus in my book. I´m sure if they tuned the weirdness down a bit, they could make beautiful music. If you like your music weird but at the same time pretty listenable this would qualify.

Oh deary me! How delightfully disturbing and twisted!

Oh RIO, how many people this subgenre has touched over the years. This is one of the categories that is at the same time both criminally underrated and overrated, as it has many critics and many fanboys who would gladly take a bullet for it. The genre is usually ripe with dissonance and experimentation which leads the more melodic listeners to run and take shelter while the people who enjoy it will step out into the acid rain and say it tastes like rainbows. But if there's one thing everyone can agree on it's that this kind of music is normally very strange (which, contrary to popular belief does NOT automatically make it ''innovative'') and very much an acquired taste. With Of Natural History, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum [SGM] have created a wonderful opus that will both make the RIO connoisseurs jump for joy and give the more hesitant listeners a place to start with the genre.

One of the best things about this band is there very unique approach to the music that they play. Rock In Opposition (RIO), as stated before, is usually very lacking in melody and derives its audience from wild experimentation. SGM is often called MIO (Metal In Opposition) by a lot of people who have the chance to hear them, but even that may be an inaccurate statement while actually listening closely to the music. SGM have managed to blend RIO with a good amount of symphonic and very melodic tenancies with the chugging power of industrial music to make for a headbanging album which is still experimental and highly impressive. Instrumental sections to the album will not only flow but bash their way through the song in a way that grabs you and takes you along for the ride. The prime example of this is the excellent Bring Back The Apocalypse, driven by a good amount of fast chimes and drums until we get to a very beatarific ending in which the ''bring it, bring it back'' chanting begins and all hope is lost for those who don't know what to expect from the band.

The vocals are surprisingly a draw point to the album. Although gruff, the vocals add a surprising amount, especially with the two singer combo. The switch between the male and female leads make for an eclectic mix which is sure to keep you on the edge of your seat. After the bludgeoning raw power of The Donkey-Headed Adversary Of Humanity Opens The Discussion it's nice to go into the slow, but no less unsettling Phthisis which is voiced by Carla Kihlstedt (who sounds a lot like a twisted Bjork who has been locked in an insane-asylum for too long). The percussion is the other part of the band which really keeps things moving, especially in songs like Phthisis where it is damn near the only thing which keeps things together (and I mean that in a good way).

Other standouts on the album are plentiful. Most of the songs do tend to run together since the album is a concept album (which other reviews have gone into in cryptic detail, so I won't), but there's still a number of songs that work very well on their own. The who epics on the album which reach over 10-minutes are each very impressive. FC: The Freedom Club is a song that starts out slow and melodic but turns into one of the most dissonant songs on the album with the drums still managing to hold everything together - like a tornado which rips across the countryside, its debris does a lot of damage, but there's still one main force. Babydoctor is a much different beast, this one is a considerably slower to get going, but when it does it finally explodes with the force of a bomb. If you're not expecting it, well... prepare to be wiped out. The Creature works in tandem with it's intro instrumental, the incredibly creepy The 17-Year Cicada to go through a mostly spoken-word like story which is obviously a metaphor for something (and the political views shine through yet again). Gunday's Child is another Carla Kihlstedt voiced track which is a lot more frantic and desperate than the last song she voiced, but still it sounds like you're standing in the mansion from The Shining looking down the hallway to two girls who can only say to you, ''hello Danny...'' (or whatever your name is).

For people who like things heavy and experimental will be over the moon with this album, and people who don't fancy themselves masters of RIO will still be able to get into the album thanks to the way it's been done. A fair warning though, don't expect anything going into this album, because you're not going to get it. Expect the unexpected I suppose would be the cliche line to add in here. 4 cockroaches out of 5 for a wild ride which everyone should take at some point or another.

Wow, probably one of the biggest disappointments of my musical life. In my genuine opinion, this is embarrassing music for me to listen to, I'm not joking! If I were going to give this album to a friend who were not prepared for what they were about to hear, I could see them saying "Wow, is this children story music"? Just horrible.

I'll start with the lyrics. "Let us dream the impossible dream, of a math professor", awesome quote, how completely childish of this group! I was once told by a member on the forum here that this group was intellectual and challenging. If by that quote, and "The future sticks out it's tongue", and "we trained it to eat it's own feces" is intellectual, then I am truly at a loss as to what the meaning of the word is. The most God awful lyricism, to an otherwise good concept, it's tear jerkingly sad.

The music. Theater prog. Junior high drama class prog. When I first heard the Donkey headed adversary, I honestly was impressed, definitely not a bad song, but besides those redeeming three first minutes, the whole album tanks. With the opening song the first image that pops into my head is a clown, singing in this big goofy voice "open your heart" to a bunch of children with big smiles on their faces. I don't know about you, but that's not the image I should be seeing when I listen to "dark", "disturbing", Avant Garde music, and it's pitiful that that's what I think of. Definitely one of the parts that makes me cringe the most is on the cockroach song when the lead singer just belts out "COCKROACH" like some disney character in the next dreamworks movie. The musicality doesnt even redeem itself, with all the goofy noises, and weird instruments, I'd rather call it Mariachi than avant garde.

Garbage, a black stain on my musical listening record. Bring on the "living on a prayer", cause that (to me) sounds much better than any of the songs I had the displeasure of hearing on this album. Congratulations Sleepytime Gorilla Museum in the making of "of natural history", for it receives my first one star review!