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Sleepytime Gorilla Museum - Of Natural History CD (album) cover

OF NATURAL HISTORY

Sleepytime Gorilla Museum

 

RIO/Avant-Prog

4.13 | 254 ratings

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frippism
5 stars Sleepytime Gorilla Museum is one of the most refreshing bands from the 21st century. Their music is something very hard to explain. But being a fairly new RIO nut, this is probably a more accessible entrance into RIO. Some people will call this Metal In Opposition, which I can agree with. Being a non-metalhead though definitely didn't my enjoyment of this album. Heck, if it's creative I like it, and this is exploding with creativity. The band plays a weird mix of metal with certain neo-classical influences and Industrial influences (They even build their own instruments which they have some pretty cool improvs with during shows).

From the beginning of "Hymn To A Morning Star", you know you're onto something very different. Speaking of the devil the "Hymn" is hilariously beautiful. The song opens with intimidating solos and leads to Nils Frykdahl's singing. And my god is it impressive. In the whole album Nils succeed in showing a very wide variety of vocal talents. From almost growling, to chanting, to screaming, he's got it all. The best songs are probably "Donkey- Headed Adversary" and "Babydoctor". "Donkey-Headed" shows SGM at their most technical, while "Babydoctor" is 14 minutes of pure insanity. Other highlights include "Brink Back The Apocalypse". The weirdest and down-right creepiest part of the album it "The Creature", which talks about a creature needs to feed, and so the people around him have to save food and learn to dine on fecal matter, while there are sounds of lips smacking in the background. Pretty gross.

The musicianship is also top notch. Carla's vocals (not THAT Bjork sounding!) are a very nice touch. Her violin is also incredible. Nils Frykdahl's guitar work is also excellent. The best musician is probably drummer Matthias Bossi, who while provides a strong backbone, has some of the better drumming I heard in a while.

The lyrics are a love/hate scenario. For the most part I love the lyrics. They're humorous, though definitely intelligent, many times providing a social and political criticism. Though I must say that the lyrics on "FC the Freedom Club" are not amazing and a bit straightforward, but not bad at any rate.

This album is a definite must for all RIO and metal fans. It was so great hearing this music and knowing that it's fairly new. SGM is one of those bands that remind you that originality is still very much alive and that there's definitely hope left (I think)!

Bassist Overview: Dan Rathbun's bass is usually pretty solid. He provides a pretty strong backbone to the music, though definitely manages to get some nice lines going for him. Overall, bass fits the music nicely, though could've been more in your face.

frippism | 5/5 |

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