David Galas – The Cataclysm
Posted on September 01, 2007 at 1:16 pm by admin
I usually like to do my reviews with very little information about the band or artist, because I feel that it gives me a completely unbiased and unaffected review of a release. It rarely works out that way, due to the fact that there might be some information on the front of a jewel case, promo sheets, I may have read a review, or just gained some information about an artist through my news coverage. The exposure I get to heavy music makes it tough to look at an album in a vacuum.
I can easily say that I knew absolutely nothing about David Galas when I popped in “The Cataclysm”, although I did have a slight bit of fear due to the fact that I wasn’t going to be reviewing a band, but an album with someone’s name on it. He didn’t have a promotional picture for an album cover, which usually adds more credibility. Think about it, every time I see a Dixie Chicks album, the album cover has the three women on the front looking cute. The there’s always the adult contemporary artists looking relaxed while wearing a huge sweater and bare feet.
To my ears, David Galas sounded to me like someone who had been in a synth-pop band in the 80’s, and then progressed to what he is today, making a generally light but sprawling underground album taking some of those elements with him. Doing some research, some of those synth-pop bands from the 80’s actually had some goth tie-ins, unless I’m misinterpreting something, then I’m just spouting off like an idiot. I’m not really familiar with goth music (which I know is different from goth metal), or darkwave, so I can’t really tell you for sure if “The Cataclysm” is part of those genres or not.
The music on the album though is epic, long drawn out, depressing and dreary. Even the short songs manage to sound pretty big. While almost all the songs are light in some fashion, I can’t really say that anything approaches a ballad, even the acoustic passages. The electric guitars have that clean 80’s snyth-pop tone to them, and some of the supporting keyboards use effects that reminded me of those same 80’s bands. The vocals are sort of a half spoken, half sung deal, moving between a monotone voice to stretching out slightly, even featuring some processing.
Hearing the vocals, I can’t really say that they’re sung with physical power, and neither are they done with the crazy range or robotic skill of pop star. For most people, those skills would be part of a measuring stick that should calculate a “great” singer. David Galas stays perfectly on key, and while he isn’t passing tons of air past his vocal chords, this is certainly an instance where I can feel a great deal of emotional power pouring off someone.
Overall, “The Cataclysm” on a whole really feels like an album, where all the songs tie in together. The overall scope of the album can be a bit much to take in, as there are 19 songs that span the entire running time that you can stuff into an audio CD. Trying to take it in all at once is a trying task, and the way the songs are divided up makes it a bit difficult to jump in right in the middle, although there are definite points that feel like the beginning of a new chapter.
It’s great to have completely unexpected albums arrive in my mailbox, especially from forms of music I normally wouldn’t take the initiate to go out an get myself, or even be exposed to. It really helps me to realize that not all music is underground just because it’s heavy with screaming in it.
The Official David Galas Website
Vendlus Records
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Copyright © 2007, Xtremely Media, All Rights Reserved
