Customer Reviews

God & Beast

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Boyd Rice lost me when he went into the whole Social Darwinism spoken word bit. Whatever happened to looped noise, weird samples, tones and drones? Fear not, as God and Beast offers up a healthy compromise of the two styles. It still maintains his vocal presence with rather predictable rhymes and things, but the music it supports is what makes this one worthwhile. There are reprises of "songs" from his older albums such as "Total War" and "Out Out Out," reinvented and in some cases improved. Rose McDowall and Douglas P (Death in June) make appearances.

as the all-fan-youngster of this kind of music that i am, i might not be so objective, but... the first thing that struck me was the nice layout of the cs-booklet. it is full of highquality pictures that gives you a good time while you listen to this masterpiece, created by mr Boyd Rice. i've seen him perform a couple of times in europe and this man can truely compose a massive noise/industrial soundscape. hate and love, might and weakness, thay are all the topics that mr Rice deal with, and that is what we call Abraxas. the track Between Venus And Mars gives you an idea of what Abraxas means, harsh rythms and good lyrics, i cant get enough of this one. guestapperance by Douglas P. and Rosie McDowall and last but not least, Dave Simmons... this cant be a no way - it is a yes way! buy it, or you will never be able to judge for yourself. if you are hesitating, just listen to this - there is a new version of the songs of songs, the allmighty Total War! if there where a new version of Vengeance on this cd, i would give it a nr 5 rating.

God And Beast. This album took SOME getting used to, it didin't click as fast as Recieve the Flame, but that does not mean it's not a good album, in fact, it's great. The noise on this one is pretty harsh for the most part, the second track, Venus And Mars is great, the venus and mars analogy for balance works really well I think. Millstones is a sloweer track with some intresting soundscapes involving chimes(?), Tooth And Claw is pretty good, but my favorite track by far is OUT OUT OUT, Boyd's voice really adds to the tracks when he speaks or screams, I think all these elements blend together and compliment each other very well to create a great album. This album features some guest stars as well, such as Douglas P. and Rose McDowell. All in all this is a good album and more than worth the price.

I personally think his IN THE SHADOW OF THE SWORD CD is the coolest,but this one's almost as great.Since the former CD is probably out of print this 'll do it for ya!I saw the man live prior to hearing this and he did some of this live.Well,versions utillizing looped vocals and a drum machine.Great stuff!This album is well-recorded and has a remake of SHADOW's TOTAL WAR.In person the man was very nice to my friends and I.I don't believe he's such a bad guy with hateful views.

First off, let me set the record straight about Boyd Rice. Boyd Rice is not a neo-Nazi nor has he claimed to be a neo-Nazi. Rice has posed with and associated with white supremacists before but it is also well documented that he is friends with many Jewish people and, if you do a search, you can find a picture of him goofing off with Jello Biafra, who is very, very liberal and has written more than a few songs expressing his dislike for racism and discrimination. Boyd Rice is, however, a Satanist and a Social Darwinist. Rice was, for some time, a prominent member of the church of Satan and close friends with Anton LaVey. He is also part of the Abraxas foundation, which is a group that holds the belief that humans are destroying this earth and the only way to cleanse the earth is death, so any event that results in the death of any humans is acceptable. So Boyd Rice is hateful and misanthropic individual and I definitely disagree with many of his views, but to claim he's a neo-nazi is an innacurate claim. Now...onto my review -

What we have here is, plain and simple, an essential slab of industrial magic. Each track is suffocating and dense. The music is almost entirely made up of loops with Boyd Rice chanting, speaking, yelling, and reciting over them. The music is very, very harsh and minimal. The vocals, in combination with the beat, give the album a very totalitarian feel,which was most likely Boyd's goal. Its hard to pick one standout track but my favorite ones are Venus and Mars and Total War. What is great about this album is its ability to absolutely consume you. Every song seems to come at you from all sides at once, with Boyd's voice bellowing in a militaristic fashion. This is an album full of violence, pain, and cruelty but is also somewhat catchy and entertaining. If you're interested in oldschool industrial such as Throbbing Gristle or if you're into Merzbow and other noise groups, this is a must have album

NON strike back with this menacing mix of loops, grating sounds and interesting beats that will leave any fan of the "electronic ritual" satisfied. The group mixes the raw natures of early industrial with ritual-styled sounds and beatwork to compose a strong (aka consistent) work that scrapes and slides through the darker aspects of the human psyche. The playing is perfectly co-ordinated leaving little to critique and the production is digital and clear. This doesn't remove the edge from the work, it more creates a seperation from the warmth of the body and the cold of the mind, leaving the listener in a suspended state of thought. Quality production and diverse atmospheres mark the NON landscape with even more digitized darkness than previously unveiled on the groups earlier recordings.

The strongest numbers presented on this release shiver and scortch through various strong soundscapes such as the opening "God and Beast" along with the powerful "Millstones". All of the material is varied enough to carry a strong mood and nothing falls into the electronic-dance kitsch that kills much of this material for me. Much like a ritual itself, this music ebs and flows in patterns that stimulate the mind into a strange state of gentle sensory violence. Compositionally raw, yet completely structured all at once. Loose nerves, deep thoughts and a forboding sense of purpose mark the songs on this release.

NON are a strange entity that few will be able to comprehend, but for those "in the know" this is a strong release. The pretense is overpowered by the strong sense of mood and melody that permeates it's digital-clear (hence cold) mix. Quality music for exploring the raw intellect - leaving the emotion to struggle in it's own realm seperated from the raw shots and wanderings of the mind.

I suggest that you buy it...

This is essentially a concept album about embracing the duality of man, which may sound heady and boring - but this album is actually a lot of fun. Like a lot of Industrial music, it seems designed to slap the listener out of numb complacency.

It's roughly half-instrumental, half- lyrics. Some tracks have been released before but the earlier versions were very rough and noisy.

It's professionally produced and engineered so it's much more accessible then Non's earlier, more lo-fi, found-sound stuff. I'd say if you like Industrial music like Nine Inch Nails or Rammstein, you would probably love this too.

Boyd Rice is very underrated, imo. I think this is due to people, for whatever reason, thinking he's some kind of neo-nazi. I have never read or heard anything from him to suggest this. People just look at the way he dresses and jump to conclusions I guess. Whatever; if people want to be dumb, let them be dumb.

Buy this!

This is also a real good classic! Not as great as IN THE SHADOW OF THE SWORD,but another must have! Sweet mind-blowing revolutionary war anthems.lol
BUY IT! You cant go wrong with this one.

This is probably one of the oddest CDs you could hope to own. Unlike so much other noise out there (including earlier material by NON himself), the mix is strangely radio-friendly! Though entirely noise-loops on synths, the first few songs almost feel like metal - very odd.

If someone is new to noise music, I would recommend this CD, along with Merzbow's "Music For Bondage Performance" as relatively "accessible" CDs to start out with.

Great noise, power and mysticism. Track "Lucifer, The Morning Star" is briliant.