Jesu - Conqueror
Rating
RIYL
GodfleshIsis
Pelican
Sun O)))
Label
Hydra HeadTracklist
1. Conqueror2. Old Year
3. Transfigure
4. Weightless & Horizontal
5. Medicine
6. Brighteyes
7. Mother Earth
8. Stanlow
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According to The Giant Impact Hypothesis, a planetesimal the size of Mars collided with proto-Earth, ejecting large volumes of matter into space which eventually condensed to form the Moon in orbit around the Earth. Similarly, when shoegaze collided with doom metal, the impact resulted in the formation of Jesu, the frontrunner of the so-called “doomgazer” movement.
Jesu’s first release, Jesu, was a monolithic record consisting of abrasive industrial doom metal blended together with dreamy shoegaze that resulted in a heavy buzzfest that overstayed its welcome after 25 minutes of its 75 minute span. However, Jesu’s second release Silver was truly remarkable. The crunchy, abrasive instrumentation of Jesu was traded in for an extra dosage of shoegaze, resulting in a pop music unheard of before. A type of pop music that was able to get indie kids and metalheads agreeing with one another for once. A key factor to Silver being such an effective record was its length - clocking in at only 28 minutes, the record ended before it could ever get boring or repetitive, leaving the listener in awe and craving more.
After hearing Silver, my expectations for Jesu’s next release were massive. I honestly believed that Conqueror was going to be a genre defying record - a record that would change the landscape of music and become the Loveless of our generation. Unfortunately, this was far from being the case.
Like Jesu, Conqueror is another full-length. On Conqueror, Jesu disposes of almost everything that made them interesting. Gone are the gloomy sludge and pounding raucousness of Jesu. Gone is the dreamy shoegaze reminiscent of "Slowdive" on Silver. In return, we have a slow brooding dirge from start to finish.
What made Silver so interesting was its ability to form a cohesive whole by combining not only different styles of music, but different song structures. No two songs on Silver sounded the same. However, on Conqueror, almost all the songs follow the same formula: start out a little heavy, follow it by one line of vocals repeated to infinity, a synth or piano interlude, and repeat on high. If this pattern was executed in a less monotonous manner, the record would have been more interesting. However, this album is simply nothingness. No emotions are stirred. No thoughts are provoked. Nothing happens for 60 minutes.
With all this said, Conqueror does have a few redeeming qualities. Ironically, one of them is the fact that nothing happens. Conqueror is a record that you can put in the background and not devote your attention to. Though it fails to immerse the listener into its nothingness like "Stars of the Lid", it floats around quite majestically.
There are also a few standout tracks on Conqueror: “Brighteyes,” “Weightless & Horizontal,” and “Mother Earth.” Though they’re all quite formulaic, they are executed really well. If Conqueror consisted only of these songs I would have thoroughly enjoyed it and been anticipating their next album to be something special. Which leaves me at this: if Conqueror was a fledgling band’s first effort, I would have been left with the impression that this band had tremendous potential and that they were going to be making some really special music in years to come. Instead, Conqueror is merely an album by a band that has become a shadow of its former self and can no longer conquer its audience.
--Armand Babian
Comments
Minnesota
Find me EVERYWHERE:
East Lansing, MI
Austin
The Daily Galaxy
An elephant that never forgets...to kill!
Holland
...i think we'll be seeing some interesting things with this band in the future.
...this is the end.
Cradle Of Filth
The Whip
Psyclon Nine
AFI
CKY
Maybe Broadrick WANTED to skirt around what everyone was expecting. He may very well deliver the goods next time, when we aren't expecting as much.
VT
Really boring, considering how much I liked Silver when I first heard it.
My Top Songs of '09
The Appleseed Cast//as the little things go
Caspian//sycamore
Sunwrae//Chinook Winds
Dredg//down to the seller
If These Trees Could Talk//the sun is in the north
From Monument to Masses//an ounce of prevention
Straylight Run//i'm through with the past
LpShinobi's Post-Rock and Shoegazing Recommendation, via YouTube
Lpshinobi's Post-Rock Band, New Song Posted
Los Angeles
postrockpaperscissors
Olathe, Kansas
this is broadrick distancing himself from Godflesh which I think eventually needed to happen. 4.5 IMO.