Civil War - Gods And Generals - review
Civil War - Gods And Generals - review
Tracklist
01. War Of The World02. Bay Of Pigs
03. Braveheart
04. The Mad Piper
05. USS Monitor
06. Tears From The North
07. Admiral Over The Oceans
08. Back To Iwo Jima
09. Schindler's Ark
10. Gods And Generals
11. Knights Of Dalecarlia
12. Colours On My Shield
A review by
ScreamingSteelUS July 02, 2015
I was decidedly less than enthralled with The Killer Angels, despite my profound love for Sabaton and high expectations for this splinter project; I have found, however, that revisiting that album has given me some greater insight into the lukewarm and dissatisfying nature of Gods And Generals. The Killer Angels was a very hit-and-miss album, but at least it hit some of the time. Gods And Generals severely wants for some kind of a flagship song, or at least something that sounds like it took longer to write than to record. "Bay Of Pigs," easily the most generic and pedestrian song I've heard in ages, shattered all my hope upon its unveiling, and the rest of the album puts very little effort into undoing the ravaging effects of this single.
Upon its initial release, I hadn't pegged The Killer Angels for possessing that first-album fury, that lightning strike of vitality that enlivens many a band's juvenile days, but compared to the saturated lethargy of Gods And Generals, it's practically the bastard child of Killing Is My Business if Lemmy were a drug and it were on that drug. Perhaps it has something to do with whatever turmoil led to Stefan Eriksson's sudden departure, or the malaise that motivated Oskar Montelius to retire from music; perhaps they simply ran out of ideas. Whatever the cause, Gods And Generals lacks spirit; it is as inert and lifeless as the erstwhile heroes Nils Patrik Johansson sings about. Even the lyrics, which I've praised at least for their themes, seem cut-and-pasted from older material.
The more I listen to this album, the more I find myself starting to remember the songs, and I'm displeased with this development because I fear mistaking memorability for quality and I know that I will one day give this a higher rating than what I hereby slap upon it, even though it hardly deserves it. Familiarity does not change the fact that Gods And Generals is nothing more than a recycled version of a recycled version of Sabaton, which basically makes this the product of an unending circle of cannibalism (and not in a cool way, like the Terminator franchise or certain species of spider). It is quite flat and boring, and I don't like to say these things about a band made up of musicians whom I respect, but I simply cannot talk myself out of the disappointment.
The beautiful lead guitar work towards the end of "Back To Iwo Jima" reminds me of classic Sabaton, and I truly hope that whatever spark Civil War had has not departed for good with Oskar, but at the same time I think it is time to stop being optimistic about this band. In my review of their debut, I stated my hopes that Civil War would "[end] up taking its own direction and crafting a sound that is truly its own." The opposite happened, and it seems highly unlikely that we'll be able to expect anything different from them in the near future. I myself like a number of bands that many people find generic and uninspired, but this is too much even for me.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 8 |
| Songwriting: | 5 |
| Originality: | 3 |
| Production: | 6 |
Written on 02.07.2015 by
Written on 02.07.2015 by
Dull Music for Dull People Comments
Comments:
10
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| Posts: 6682 |
Posts: 6682 Written by deadone on 02.07.2015 at 04:43 Overall, as a fellow history enthusiast, I agree that it's difficult to convey with historical lyrics the same urgency and emotion of other subject matter, even the absurd. There's nothing particularly compelling about listing off names, dates, and the bare facts of progression if you don't find some way to dress it up a bit, and Civil War mix in so much generic heavy metal tripe that it's even sillier. Still, I sense that I'm more forgiving about that sort of thing, and I do think it's quite possible to do it right. One of the best examples that comes to mind is Iced Earth's "Gettysburg," which does a fantastic job of mixing historical detail with humanity and spirit. Even if it's not always successful, I'm glad that some bands take to the textbooks for their lyrical content; it's a nice change from the usual subjects. As I've mentioned, I love Sabaton, but boy howdy, if you hate those guys then you're going to absolutely loathe Civil War.
---- "Earth is small and I hate it" - Lum Invader I'm the Agent of Steel.
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 Posts: 9568 |
Posts: 9568
THIS ALBUM COVER IS RACIST AND SHOULD BE REMOVED
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 Posts: 64331 |
Posts: 64331
Navy SEAL US .. album fits more to US not Europe, great idea, sing about unknown historical facts as Sabbaton but do it in better way, Bay Of Pigs, how many knows what was it?
---- I stand whit Ukraine and Israel. They have right to defend own citizens. Stormtroopers of Death - "Speak English or Die"  I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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Posts: 3640 Written by deadone on 02.07.2015 at 04:43 Best comment I've read on this website in a while. I'm not a history-fanatic by any means, but bands like Sabaton are just so dull to me. People give them way too much credit for having gone to the library a few times and writing down some summaries of historical events and singing those over some uninspired keyboard melodies with a guitar in there somewhere. Anyone can do that. I'm not a huge Maiden fan, but at least they turn it into actual lyrics and I respect them for it. And "The Trooper" is indeed a great song that's a good example of that.
---- I hate bonus tracks
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| Posts: 64331 |
Posts: 64331
Dead - you know Trooper is about Crimea war ... I am impressed IMO historical lyric cincept is better as about bones, guts and so on, many bands has bad lyrics and yes also about women, pussy and legs are boring lyrics, like Whitenskae seems David never has seen pussy and wants it as 15 years teenage boy. This historical lyrics is good
---- I stand whit Ukraine and Israel. They have right to defend own citizens. Stormtroopers of Death - "Speak English or Die" I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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Posts: 64331 Written by Boxcar Willy on 02.07.2015 at 15:03 since when US flag is rasism ,,, and deny confederates existed is also wrong, same as we remove nazie german swastika from history books
---- I stand whit Ukraine and Israel. They have right to defend own citizens. Stormtroopers of Death - "Speak English or Die" I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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Posts: 6101 Written by Bad English on 02.07.2015 at 16:50 He's making a joke about the cover because there's a big bunch of bullshit hoopla in the States right now that the Confederate flag should not be displayed or sold anymore due to its connection to America's slave history.
---- ~Zep, Former Database and Forum Moderation~ 
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| Ritual_Suicide
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| Posts: 6101 |
Posts: 6101
That's funny you posted the General Lee as a symbol of Confederate recognition because (Idk exactly how up to date you are on this Confederate flag stuff over here) now many stations who air Dukes reruns are now pulling them from their schedules in order to jump on the anti-Confederate flag bandwagon.
---- ~Zep, Former Database and Forum Moderation~
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Posts: 6101 Written by deadone on 04.07.2015 at 01:37 Yup. Unfortunately we've become a nation of greedy crybabies.
---- ~Zep, Former Database and Forum Moderation~
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