Imagine Echoes review of No Go Know

Thursday, July 02, 2009

No Go Know: Time Has Nothing to Do With It Review

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"Pretentious" is a term that cynical rock critics love to use, and it was a term that plagued Progressive Rock. Bands that were tagged as being "pretentious" were more often than not just releasing music that was bigger and more complex than what the typical rock audience was accustomed to hearing, and quite often, simply better. However, releasing double albums is also an excuse for critics to call a band pretentious, and while I won’t go as far as to say that double albums themselves are pretentious, it is a little too much material for a listener to digest. It has always been a mystery to me as to why a band would release a double album - take the best songs from each disc and make one masterful album instead of creating some bloated album that has listeners falling asleep by the second disc. If it’s a rock opera, release it as two separate entities - System of a Down’s approach to releasing what was technically a double album, although not a rock opera, and turning it into two separate releases was fantastic because it allowed listeners to absorb all of the material. No Go Know decided to take the bombastic route, and released a double album that is mixed with subherb highs, and the occasional lows.
No Go Know puts together an album that predominantly purveys indie sensibilities but are never afraid to go outside the boundaries and mix in a myriad of hard rock jam sessions doused in fuzzed out psychedelia. It’s during these rocking climaxes where No Go Know truly shines. On "End of a Stay"- a rather violent and sadistic tale, No Go Know closes the song down with primal wailing vocals, drama educing guitars, and pounding drums, all of which arrives after a rather mellow, yet emotionally powerful introduction. As the album moves along into the second disc, it feels a little bogged down and all of the music starts to feel more and more like a blur, and much of this is due to the excessive amount of material on the album.

Periphrasis is a tell tale sign of poor writing (for more signs of poor writing just read my blog) which seeks to achieve greater volume at the expense of quality. If you can release a single disc with the strongest material rather than two discs which cover both highs and lows, then the obvious choice is to go for the single disc. There's nothing wrong with brevity. No Go Know’s best moments shine brightly; condense this album and you would have one of the better albums of 2009.

Grade: B