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When I received this record to review I gotta admit I was a little skeptical. For one thing, I had seen this album get literally crucified by the general metal press, and while I try not to let that influence my own writing, a seed of doubt had been planted within me, and I have certainly procrastinated on giving this album the time it deserves. Anyways the time is now and I think before anything is mentioned it must be said that… Geezer Butler is a man who surely needs no introduction, a true life Metal God as the original bassist from the Old Ones themselves, the almighty Black Sabbath. It is safe to say that anyone who has ever played bass in a heavy band owes their respect to this legend. With that being said, we can turn our first attentions toward this disc Ohmwork, which is the work of a group of musicians, headed by Butler, under the moniker GZR. This is not the first time that we have seen Geezer focus his efforts on a modern sounding record away from the Black Sabbath mold, however this is the first time since the 1997 album Black Science, released under the band name Geezer. An almost identical line-up from that release returns on Ohmwork, except the drumming duties are now handled by Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers). So... what kind of music do we have here? Well for starters lets just say this is really a far cry from anything Sabbath has ever done, and that is not necessarily a bad thing as this release showcases his desire to spread out towards a more modernized sound. Downtuned riffs, angst-ridden lyrics, and the occasional rap metal vocals, spell out nu-metal though and while I hate to slap a label on, this is ultimately how this should be described.
When the first track, “Misfit” starts up, my initial reaction was “hey! This is not too bad”. The opening-driving riff is powerful, and there is a pretty heavy vibe. Although sounding rather nu-metalish, the catchy hook does add something and overall not a bad opening tune. Only problem is… It doesn’t get much better. Moving forward, it becomes clearly obvious that this album is pretty bland, not too mention that some songs on here are straight up Rap Metal such as the third track “Prisoner 101”. Clark Brown’s vocals, while not altogether terrible, are definitely an acquired taste fit for this brand of music and for me personally the taste is unsweetened. I wish I could say that “well while it may not be memorable at all, at least the whole album is really heavy” but it’s not as heavy as it could/should be. In fact Geezer’s normal thundering bass lines don’t really stand out at all. The songwriting comes across as uninspired, the overall compilation leaving a feeling like “something” is missing. To be honest, this sounds quite outdated, maybe even like something that could have been released back in 96 or 97. I cannot imagine fans of the genre even admiring this disc, with so many other options available at this point in time. In retrospect I have to say hats off to Geezer for attempting to try something different, and I hope that he will continue to make music in the future, but this here is nothing to get excited about. Looks like my procrastination is justified. Not recommended.
| Tracklist |
| 1. Misfit |
| 2. Pardon My Depression |
| 3. Prisoner 101 |
| 4. I Believe |
| 5. Aural Sects |
| 6. Pseudocide |
| 7. Pull The String |
| 8. Alone |
| 9. Dogs Of Whore |
| 10. Don't You Know |
: 43.40
| Buy other GZR albums |
