From: awrc@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Al Crawford)
Subject: Review: Will - Word Flesh Stone
Reply-To: awrc@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Al Crawford)
Organization: The University Of Edinburgh - Department Of Computer Science
Date: Mon, 4 Jan 1993 15:34:09 GMT
Followup-To: rec.music.industrial


Will		Word Flesh Stone		Third Mind TM 9158 2 [UK]

	Total Running Time: 27 min 41 sec

	1.	Furnace Rekindled		4:57
	2.	Father Forgive			4:33
	3.	All Victorious			4:18
	4.	Triumph				3:37
	5.	Kingdom Come			4:18
	6.	Souls Of The Valiant		5:38

Will, which consists of Rhys Fulber (of FLA), Chris Peterson and John
McRae, first surfaced in 1991, with _Pearl Of Great Price_, an album
combining sundry bits and pieces they'd recorded since 1987. The music was
best described as techno-gothic, a mixture of chanting monks, suitably
medieval noises (portcullis closing noises etc), militaristic drumming and
harpsichord or dark string synths. The effect would've wandered between
Delerium-esque ambient industrial territory and Clan Of Xymox at their most
morose had it not been for...the vocals. John McRae's vocals were described
in the publicity shots prior to the first album's release as "the most
violent voice you've ever heard." This, apparently, is record-biz speak for
saying that he shouts. Not even particularly well - it's not as if his
voice has the menace of a Nivek Ogre or the processed hoarseness of a Bill
Leeb - he just shouts.

However, if the shouting could be ignored, the album made for a reasonable
hours entertainment, the music winning through despite the vocals. This new
EP from Will seems, initially at least, to mark a change in direction. The
first track, a reworking of "Furnace Of Souls" from the LP, moves into
Enigma territory, marrying the fake-medievalism of the earlier material
with a slow house beat. While the comparison with Enigma is inevitable,
it's as though Will have approached the song from the other direction - so
it sounds less like someone has taken a dance track and bunged in some
monks, and more like someone's taken some monks, shoved them in a studio
with a bunch of equipment and told them to get on with it.

Perhaps "Furnace Of Souls" most enjoyable feature is that McRae doesn't
sing on it. The same, alas, can't be said for the other five tracks here.
While there's nothing that's up to the standards of the better tracks from
_Pearl Of Great Price_, one or two of the songs (which are generally
monotonous) could've turned out better had McRae been muzzled. True, the
vocals have been mixed a lot further back than in the previous release, but
as long as McRae is in the same studio, it's not far enough. To make up for
his reduced volume, McRae has attempted to substantially increase the
pretension factor of his lyrics - perhaps the best judgement of whether
this release'd be for you is whether you can stand having lyrics like
"Shrouded in bone and bloodlike tears/Of pure spirit, henceforth pay
homage" and "Spawned at the dawn of ages/From the bowels of this world"
shouted at you over sampled chanting monks and snare drums. If there's
nothing you like better, you might well enjoy this. Otherwise...

Overall, not very impressive. I had something of a soft spot for _Pearl Of
Great Price_ since although the vocals varied from annoying to excruciating
the music itself was rather good. _Word Flesh Stone_ retains the vocals,
but the music just isn't up to the same standard. Not recommended.

Erland Rating: +0

-- 
			Al Crawford - awrc@dcs.ed.ac.uk
	  Department Of Computer Science, The University of Edinburgh
   Rm 1410, JCMB, Kings Buildings, Mayfield Rd, EDINBURGH, EH9 3JZ, Scotland
	     Tel: +44 (0) 31 650 5165  Fax: +44 (0) 31 667 7209
Newsgroups: rec.music.reviews,rec.music.misc