Godex - Gates of the Universe

Album Review

GODEX is a one man project created by Thomas Fräntzki a.k.a. Tommy Tom, the former front man of THORA, a Gothic-Metal band from Aachen/Germany. The formation existing since 1999 has been called the Gothic Metal discovery of the year by the press. I tried to find some reasons for such a flattering title but the music the band used to play can’t be appraised definitely. THORA broke up this year and Tommy started his solo carrier. The debut album ‘Gates of the Universe’ pretending to be full of catchy songs will be released in October.

Well, let’s check out the material now. The first thing that attracted my attention was the title of the CD, inviting to fantastic worlds there are no traces of which on the album. Only things we can find there are a pretentious name and the music that can be described with one word: boring. Most of the songs are long and monotonous and the rhythm section doesn’t seem vary from one track to another. Besides the manner of singing remains the same regardless the theme of a composition: excessively forced vocals with an exaggerated pronunciation of the sounds. Concerning the lyrics unfortunately I can only state it appertains to the shortcomings of the album - lack of original metaphors and poorly masked sense create the impression of childish writing.

But of course there are several tracks of good quality, rather emotional, atmospheric and pleasant to listen to - first of all a couple of ballads, namely ‘Dream with you’ and ‘A Little Piece’. ‘Fat Old Sun’ can be marked out for its nice melody and in this case catchy guitar riffs, even the strange metamorphoses of the vocals don’t spoil the effect produced by the composition. ‘Eagles’ is maybe the best work on the album but still too long and ‘Gates of the Universe’ excels with its quite good lyrics. Honestly, I don’t like to write such reviews because the recording of an album is really hard work with a lot of physical and emotional expenditures but GODEX can be complimented only for the endeavour. If this album will be regarded as a starting point the musician has some potential for his further development.


Tracklist

01. For You - 3:35
02. Big Wide Eyes - 4:26
03. Love Salvation - 4:40
04. Gates of the Universe - 3:55
05. Eagles - 8:05
06. Fat Old Sun - 3:37
07. Melancholic Skies - 4:24
08. Dream with You - 4:20
09. Heart of Gold - 3:22
10. In Broad Daylight - 4:33
11. The Best - 3:36
12. A Little Piece - 3:59


Line-up

Tommy Tom - Songwritng, Vocals, Instruments


Website

http://godex-music.de/ / http://www.myspace.com/godexmusic


Cover Picture




Rating

Music: 5
Sound: 4
Extras: -
Total: 4.5 / 10


{jos_sb_discuss:19}