Given that I liked the previous Godgory album, I awaited their new opus impatiently. I was sure that these Scandinavian guys wouldn’t disappoint me. The punishment for my naivety was, if anything, my condition after finally listening to this album. The way I feel can best be described as «standing with one leg in gold and the other deep in dung». Simply put, my feelings are controversial.

«Way Beyond» had a certain «premise» going against it from the start. This premise is that everything on the disc is so secondary, primitive and banal, that I can’t help but call it tertiary, beaten to death, buried, exhumed and beaten to death again. Let’s start our paleontological excursion with the artwork.

In my opinion, the artwork of the last Godgory album is an obscure Wonder Bra advertisement. Why do I think so? Take a careful look at the cover. The first thing we see is Nika, the ancient greek symbol of victory, who bashfully covers her small breast with one hand, and sort of asks the gods «what for?» with the other. You can also see several purple beetles running around Nika — they must symbolize the atrocity of her small breast. There are also four roses right next to Nika, visibly hinting that as long as she has that small breast, she can bury the hope that she will find herself a good guy, even if she’s is the symbol of victory. With hope and disbelief, Nika looks at the white dove hovering above, who is surrounded by something that should’ve been Wonder Bra, but resembles cow turds instead, thanks to the genius of the picture’s author (I guess he was some guy who doesn’t specialize in this sort of thing). The dove must be a symbol of beauty which can be reached only by purchasing this damn Wonder Bra, which is sort of drawn around the dove (as if the author was trying to associate the beauty of the dove with the alleged beauty of Wonder Bra). Apparently the artist was hesitant about the fact that he’s drawing a bra, because it looks like a cross between a very dirty auricle and a crumpled rug. To remedy the situation, he put a band logo above all this crying shame. In one word, it’s capitalism. Here’s a free piece of advice for companies — run your ads in the album inlays, and in exchange pay for, say, printing expenses. I’ll bet people will go bananas when they see ads for alcohol-free beer in a Manowar CD inlay, or a pitch for Life Styles brand condoms interspersed with Cannibal Corpse lyrics.

If the artwork can be considered a bit original (with my flagitious assumption taken into account, of course), the lyrics and music of the band certainly can’t be called anything close to original. I would define the style of Godgory as melodic Swedish «death» in the vein of In Flames, but with more atmosphere, more straightforwardness, and a lack of melody. One of the things that immediately strikes the eye is their use of percussion-like guitar parts a-la Rammstein, which was actually noticeable on the previous album. Thus all riffs on «Way Beyond» can be divided into two parts: the first consists of riffs which were borrowed from In Flames, and the second is comprised of riffs which were borrowed from Rammstein. The guitar sound is so sweet and clear that you start to wonder how much time is needed for this amount of sugar to kill a diabetic. The drums easily give such drone-rock pinnacles as Aerosmith and Ildjarn a run for their money in terms of «complexity» and «diversity», but at least they don’t strike the eye that much and they do their job nicely. The vocals are either a slightly contused whisper, or lazy mid-ranged semi-growling. The keyboard parts are utterly hilarious. When the second song started I literally jumped up from the excitement — the keyboard’s melodic line painfully resembles the music from Tyrian, a wonderful game which I played during the days of my youth. Frankly speaking, the whole album can be considered a soundtrack to this game (with a certain stretch, of course). As a rule, the keyboard parts are used in the following way: they either create an atmosphere with plangent melodic walls providing the background for the guitar parts, or they lead their own melodic lines simultaneously with other instruments. Sometimes they have to do it both ways at the same time, but since the parts aren’t complex, the keyboards aren’t going to strain themselves. As a rule, all songs are played in one tempo, and the composition is based on the chorus-verse principle and rarely gets any more complex. Keeping in mind all the above, I have to state that the lyrics, which I woundn’t have noticed in any other case, are written in the vein of the music: they’re simply, banal and naive (just take a look the the song titles). All in all, it’s a kindergarten constructor, not an album.

I’ll bet you are starting to think «what in the hell can save this opus from public execution?». Well, there is one exception which turns all the aforementioned «minuses» into one big furry pinky plus, says I. Despite the presence of downright minor melodic lines, the general mood of the album can be described with the words «light», «airy», «bright» and «happy-go-lucky». The «innocence» of the music is so forthright that it (the music) can be easily used as a soundtrack for the Teletubbies TV show. For us grown-up people, this musical «innocence» means we have the chance to have a lot of fun and fool around while listening to «Way Beyond» which, of course, is a big plus. I mean, how many fans of extreme music have anything like that in their collections? After I listened to «Way Beyond» all the way through (and ended up disappointed — to put it mildly), I decided to listen to these songs in another mood and more carefully. It was then that I suddenly understood all the benefits of this music — it is able to wake up a child in everyone of us, and all its elements (except maybe that Wonder Bra) only help in doing it. I completely understand if this sounds really strange and surprising (maybe even insupportable), but if you want to simply plunge into childhood and take a break from the surrounding reality a bit, then «Way Beyond» will be just fine for you. I think there are many who will try to prove the «seriousness» and «portliness» of this album, but for me, it will always be a bright remembrance of my careless childhood. On this note, you may consider me unobjective. However, you should keep in mind that I’ve also given you the «alternative» view on this album. In my opinion, it’s better to have fun while listening to «Way Beyond» as one recalls their pink-blue childhood than to spit and languish for the time and money spent in vain.

All in all, «Way Beyond» is not recommended for people who search for originality and extremity in their music, and it’s not for those who take their favorite music too seriously. On the other hand, this album will be just fine for: 1) those who have started to acquaint themselves with extreme music, 2) those who desire music that is simply «recreational», and 3) those who like traditional, banal and simple music. Fans of In Flames and Rammstein should like this album too. And one more thing — if you have a special place in your heart for Tyrian, don’t spare your money, buy this album — an ocean of nostalgic feelings is guaranteed.

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