GODBLUFF

When I was first getting into prog, my friend lent me a stack of albums, one of those albums was Pawn Hearts. I gave it a spin and well.... I hated it.

But I eventually came back around to VDGG and grew to appreciate lemmings, and then the rest of the album which I now consider a 10/10. I had always seen Godbluff on Progarchives but slept on it for months and months. I finally blind purchased a copy of discogs and after dozens of listens, I can safely say this is very much worthy of its rating on this site.

The pure amount of creativity and detail is mind-boggling. Peter Hammill uses his voice as if it was a lead instrument. His delivery is just so terrifyingly creative that I cant get enough of it. This band is almost too prog to be considered prog. This album comes after a long four year hiatus where Hammill went ham (no pun intended!) on the solo albums with the other band members joining him on those albums. The album follows a structure that is essentially four similar length songs ranging from 7:00-10:26 minutes. It's brimming with layers of Organ and Saxophone with a prominent jazz influence that really creates a unique sound for this album.

"The Undercover Man" starts the album off a bit more mellow. There is amazing depth to the instrumentals creating a vast soundscape throughout the song. It is perhaps my favorite on the album. "Scorched Earth" seems to fade together nicely with The Undercover Man. It a bit more on the intense, heavier side of things. Around 3:40, a really sick heavy groove kicks in that is eventually reprised near the end of the song. The third song titled "Arrow," is the other contender for favorite song. We are treated to a nice extended jazzy jam that opens the song getting things going. Once again, this song has a really cool dark groove for the verse that is established by whatever tone Hammill is using on the keys. Along with the verse, the chorus is a highlight of the song. It builds up to an amazing crescendo where Hammill shouts, "swift as any ARRROOOOWWW!" Yeah great song. The final track, "The Sleepwalkers" makes me envision chaotic evil circus music. There's one section that stood out to me right from first listen and its the part around 3:00 minutes in that sounds like surf music for a moment. In typical Van Der Graaf style, it quickly turns dark and speeds up creating one of my favorite moments throughout the album. It is such a complete 180 from everything else on the album that I can't help but adore it. There is an abundance of detail throughout the song that has given me something new to hear on every repeated listen.

The Undercover Man 10/10 Scorched Earth 9/10 Arrow 10/10 The Sleepwalkers 9/10

This album is perfect and an easy 5-Star rating for me.

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