Monster Magnet
God Says No

Following up the cross-over success of the “Powertrip” album, Dave Wyndorf and his mixed up stoner/metal/riffage posse have produced one of the more eclectic but commendable metal albums of 2000. Far from a straight-ahead metal album, this seems to cover everything from the metal-dancefloor friendly riffage and instant catchiness of “Heads Explode” (with annoying echo effects on the vocals) to the ominous sub-country (with drum machines and programming) of “Queen of Doll”..

Stand out tracks, are the aforementioned “Heads Explode”, the rather groovy syncopated “Doomsday” (in which the end of the world has never had such a catchy chorus), the Bob Ezrin (Kiss, Pink Floyd) produced “Silver Future”, and “I want More”, the last 2 oddly being the bonus tracks for the UK edition, and “I Want More” nicks the riff from Guns N’ Roses “Out Ta get me” wholesale. “Silver Future” however, Dave Wyndorf loathes beyond belief. Its difficult to see why, thanks to an interesting revolving bassline which overshadows the whole song, to a Hawkwind-esque vocal and a catchy metal stoner chorus that owes as much to bands like Kyuss and Unida as it does to the (worst or best of, depending on if you liked Zeppelin and Hawkwind) 70s’ metal scene. Overall, tracks like “God Says no” and the keyboard-swamped Deep Purple tribute that is “Kiss of the scorpion” proves that theres’ a lot more to this band than a nu-metal heavy riffage formula. And quite why “All shook up” reminds me of Blurs’ “Coffee and TV” I still don’t know…”Gravity Well” on the other hand is zeppelin though and though, even down to its deliberately lo-fi production. “My Little Friend”(a Scarface reference no doubt) riffs like only metal does (RAWK!), and the self-pitying epic “Cry” starts with a keyboard intro and guitar that’s shows that this bands aren't a mere contender, but the real shit. And the weird bossanova end track “Take it” sounds like Tony Bennet if his lyricist had been eating LSD for years….

In this world when looking backwards and being retro is the new looking forwards, this might well be the album the (metal) world is waiting for. If so, they’ll be surprised, but disappointed. Its sludgy, grungy, toner metal but unabashably commercial sounding, with enough quirkiness to commend it to anybody with a passing interest in metal. Album of 2000? However much some people say, it isn’t, but it is very very good and well worth checking out. God may say No, but Dave Wyndorf says lets rock, and he ain’t too wrong.