Artist: God Lives Underwater
Album: Up Off The Floor
Label: Megaforce/Locomotive
Release Date: September 28, 2004
This is the fourth release from the rock/electronic quartet that originated around Philly, PA in 1993. The band has been described as Nine Inch Nails meets Alice In Chains in their sound and creativity as well as complexity of their songs. Originally slated for release in the late 90's, band disagreements and record company squabbles put this follow-up to "Life In The So-Called Space Age" on the backburner until now. Most members now have side and solo projects, but may tour together once again.
Most people seem to shudder when they think of heavy guitar/electronic rock. This is not the case with God Lives Underwater. Vocalist David Reilly stays true to the strong lyrical backings of the first three albums. Musicians Jeff Turzo, Andrew Magee, and Martin Gore fill the songs with heavy, yet complex guitar, synthesizer, and drums. Opening with the track "Choir Boy", the band proves they can still deliver the goods they did with the first three releases, despite no longer being with Rick Rubin's American Recordings label. The second track "Fame", the Bowie/Lennon tune, originally released on the "15 minutes" soundtrack, seems to fall a bit short of the original and seems to be the weakest link in the album. The strongest songs on the album seem to be "1% (the long way down), "Take whatever you've got", "Miss you more than anything", and "You must understand".
Compared to the first three albums, this album comes closest style-wise to "Empty" in guitar driven electronic music, while their third release "Life In The So-Called Space Age" was more electronic synthesizer based rock. This album does have some slight mixing issues, but that does not take away from the creativity.
At any rate, I recommend checking this band out, whether its this album or not. They do not have an album in their catalog that will dissapoint. Hopefully its not too late for this band to make a comeback.
http://www.enjoyglu.com
http://www.davidreillymusic.com
For comparison purposes I will rate all four albums:
God Lives Underwater EP (Self-Titled) [1995]: 9/10
Empty [1995]: 10/10
Life In The So-Called Space Age [1998]: 8/10
Up Off The Floor [2004]: 7/10
