Monday, July 12, 2010

North: Genocidal World (1994)

(As published in the Illinois Entertainer ... )

North
Genocidal World
(Eatin')


You've heard the expression "So bad it's good"? Well, North's Genocidal World is so bad it's horrible. Not that as devotees of apocalyptic Christianity and industrialized metal they don't have a right to express themselves for thirty-six minutes, but where did they get the idea to follow the last track with another thirty-six minutes--of the entire album in reverse? True, Don Grillo's backward rock-operatic yowling makes the end of the world more tolerable than his frontward rock-operatic yowling does if only because backwards you can't understand lyrics like "We're a filthy plague / Knocking down on heaven's door / Leaving festering wounds to grow / Into future wars," lyrics that make you wish the world would end--or the song, whichever might come first. Something tells me that wasn't the apocalyptic effect this Glendale Heights, Illinois, quartet intended.

No comments:

Post a Comment