I, for one, was initially startled by The Mars Volta. Their melding of prog-rock and post-hardcore required the status of a level-32 dwarf. Maybe it was Cedric's multidimensional vocabulary or Omar's guitarscapades, but they got boring real quick. Simply put, the Mars lacked Volta. My replacement and newest musical addiction was run by a thousand engines and possessed by one word: Gospel.
With previous members in 90's Level Plane type bands and their first release as a split with Kodan Armada, one might expect a screamy sound from Gospel. But these assumptions are immediately frozen on The Moon is a Dead Place as we hear eight songs of near nonstop mind-wandering rock. If talent doesn't scare you away and listening to dense instrumentation that doesn't wander down a tech metal path excites you, Gospel will flood your brain like an alarm clock. Multi-leveled dynamics are present from all angles without dipping into either instrumental-masturbation or so-progressive-it-somehow-reverted-to-boring. And if you like it slow sometimes, the song "Opium," lets us relax without putting us to sleep. This, my friends, is something to own and show your friends. Soon they will wonder where you find such good music. Don't point in my direction, let Gospel take the credit.
If the terms prog-rock and post-hardcore sound scary, follow their roots to see why Gospel rocks it so wildly. Prog-rock comes from bands like King Crimson and Hawkwind; they managed to play rock in a more progressive and interesting manner than the rock being raped on the radio. Post-hardcore comes from bands that managed to enjoy punk/hardcore but thought its musical and lyrical limitations were too restrictive. Basically, if "alternative" rock all sounds the same and punk is beginning to all sound the same, my god, Gospel will slip into that ear hole perfectly. I swear.
