Mose Giganticus are one of those square pegs you occasionally come across when all you have at hand are round holes. Previous release ‘The Invisible Hand’ was an exercise in mould breaking, genre crossing and strength of vision. And it was backed up and supported by an incredibly thorough US tour in a HOME-MADE vegi-diesel bus. Mose Giganticus are also a (mostly) one man operation – anything other than guitars are the work of Matt Garfield.
‘The Invisible Hand’ was a caustic electropunk retelling of the so-called ‘War of the Currents’ (the battle of intellect and self promotion between Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla), it stuck to the punk rock ideal of ‘product before profit’, so unsurprisingly came out on the side of the visionary genius of Tesla, rather than the greed and spin of Edison. It also had a cover of Styx’s ‘Mr Roboto’.
New long player (and debut full-lengther) ‘Gift Horse’ is comparable only in the breadth of concept. An exploration of the crossed viewpoints of the Old Testament Christian God and the fallen angel Lucifer, it’s a series of points and counterpoints exploring the idea of why each is ‘The Great Deceiver’ in the eyes of the other. Apparently, the only way to give a concept that heavy enough depth is an unholy cross between the synthy keyboard work of Devo and Suicide, and the heavy riffing of Mastodon. It comes over as a blend of VERY heavy prog rock, with the ‘not-gonna-play-by-the-rules’ attitude of punk.
And there’s A LOT of depth to the sound. Matt Garfield is a keyboard player by trade, and while the synths aren’t as dominating as they were on ‘The Invisible Hand’, they’re still there, and still prominent. What IS new, however, is a thick guitar sound that is reminiscent of Mastodon. Actually, the guitars and the synths work in a harmony not seen since Yes – which is odd because, let’s face it, they WERE the natural enemy of the first punk wave.
Now, while we’re talking enemies, the vocals on this album are a touch of genius: this is essentially a heated argument between the fallen and the (self-defined) divine. Now, since harsh words and hurt feelings are felt on both sides, it’s not easy to work out who is who: The voice I presume is Jehovah is a Phil Anselmo-esque roar (more Down than Pantera era though), while Lucifer has a very snazzy vocoder, and sounds a bit like Starscream.
Phil Anselmo having an argument with Starscream. The only way to be more metal would be to involve Dio in some way.
Closing track ‘The Seventh Seal’ is one of the most magnificent things you’ll hear – emotionally peaking with Lucifer’s mournful acceptance of betrayal and defeat, it then shifts to a METAL finale, a BIG METAL FINALE. The sort of thing ‘Black album’ or ‘Load’ era Metallica would have thought was a little much.
It’s an utterly fantastic climax to an incredible record.
Out Now on Relapse Records.
