Album Review: God Alone — “ETC”

How does one actually begin talking about an album like ETC? I think the most accurate way to sum it up at the top is from one of the rare times the comments section has actually been worth going through, on the official video for “Tsk Tsk Tsk,” the first single God Alone put out. There is a comment that simply reads “This is the worst thing I’ve ever heard 10/10.” While I disagree strongly with the first part of that statement, I can understand what would make someone say something like that, even in jest. ETC is an album that is only going to garner extreme opinions, in both directions.

Cork, Ireland’s own God Alone has existed for some time as a simple-yet-effective post-metal band, putting out a solid release in 2018’s Bent Shoulders, but nowhere near as distinctive and singular as ETC is. To talk about their sonic evolution, we have to go all the way back to the origin story of the quintet, at the MTU School of Music in Cork, where the members all met and where they attend their studies, and also where ETC was recorded. In the intervening time since Bent Shoulders, the band members have taken in influences both within and without the general category of music, as well as new a new ethos on writing. Storming the Irish music scene has helped them realize how important the live version of their music is, so ETC was written with a tighter focus on recreating the whole song live. Naturally, that means stripping back some of the huge washes of sound that categorizes post-metal, and…boy do they. If the album art doesn’t clue you in, ETC is a study in minimalism as well as experimentation. Clean guitars dominate, synths are often reduced to simple one-note stabs, and drummer Jack O’Hanlon plays as much on the rims as he does on the actual head of the instrument. The band states that the Talking Heads are actually one of the biggest influences on this record, along with Dadaist poetry, dance music, math rock and post-punk. Lyrically, the album focuses very heavily on the aforementioned Dadaist and existentialist themes of nothingness, meaningless, endless repetition and absurdity. If all of this feels very intellectual and hoity-toity, it is. We love dumb-guy music here, but this is certainly not it. It is, however, like nothing else you could possibly listen to.

If you’re thinking that ETC sounds like something that barely resembles metal music, well…you wouldn’t exactly be right, but again, I wouldn’t blame you for thinking that. Numbers like the title track and “Tsk Tsk Tsk” are driven much more strongly by groovy, infectious dance beats, delicate guitar lines and synth work that is extremely reminiscent of electronica than a crunchy riff or blast beat. It reminds me much more of the indie and mathrock that I listened to obsessively in high school than a Cult of Luna or something similar. However, it needs to be said that there are still plenty of moments that are brutally heavy, like the breakdown in the middle of “15BM1989” or almost the entirety of “Kung Fu Treachery.” There is still plenty of the band’s old self left, and plenty that absolutely qualifies ETC as a metal album, for those who care about that sort of thing. Now, though, the idea that is God Alone has been expanded and reforged into something that truly stands alone. I am absolutely in awe of how creative these pieces are. Highbrow as they may be, that is what you get when you bring five people who study music at a university level together to make music: these songs sound like the songs that music majors would make (in the best way possible) because despite how random and chaotic it may sound, you know it is all intentional. While intention may go slightly against the Dada philosophy of absurdity, there is a proper way to create something that reflects the self out of absurd and abstract ideas, and this is exactly how you do it. It’s controlled chaos; it’s organized randomness; it’s meaningful absurdity, but most of all, it is so very cool.

It can’t be overstated how much ETC breaks away from the pack and does something that is so incredibly creative, and risky while they’re at it. ETC is an album that could very easily have been dead on arrival without the proper care and thought, and thank goodness that it isn’t. If you’re wondering what side I’m on, let me definitively say that I think this album is a work of genius. I fully expect plenty of people to disagree with me, and that’s fine, but if you don’t at least give this one a try, you’re missing out, severely.

– Ian

ETC will be available October 21 via Prosthetic Records. For more information on God Alone, visit their Facebook page.