Review Summary: You remind me of that summer when smoking was still heartbreakingly cool
GOLD's Optimist is a great example of how to create huge layers of hard-hitting guitars while retaining a catchy edge; building atmosphere through great riffs and haunting vocals. Combining elements of post-punk, gothic rock, progressive and what-not, it is really difficult to pin the band to a genre.
The opening track is a good representative of the band's approach on this album: The bass is the one to kick things off; on top of it the rest of the band members join the music one after the other. The first guitar comes in with a drone-ish rythm, while a second guitar layer adds some melody. Once this base is fully built, it stays for the rest of the song, deeply imprinting itself on your brain. Meanwhile, new melodies are thrown into the mix, while vocalist Milena Eva constantly reminds you that
You Too Must Die.
Progressively building up a base and repeating it while introducing variations is a formula that GOLD use in most of the songs in the album. Far from being an innovative formula, it stands out in this album because of how well the guitar layers are built, and how the riffs and melodies brought in throughout the songs manage to keep them interesting and diverse. The repetitive nature of the music plays a very important role in creating and maintaining the dark atmosphere the band aims for, and Milena's voice is also a great addition the mix: emotional, somehow distant but deeply striking. It feels as if someone distant is talking to you in a detached manner, yet you know what the person is saying is of great importance.
As you probably have figured out, the themes of this album are not precisely
Optimistic, but it is not entirely depressing either:
Teenage Lust is a melancholic song about naivety, the drones of
White Noise lean more towards anxiety, conflict and anger, while
Summer Thunder has a wishful feeling for things to come. At times there is even a sense of hope in the more up-beat songs like
No Shadow and
Come With Me that shake things up by putting out a little bit more energy.
This is a huge leap from their previous efforts, giving the impression that GOLD have finally perfected their personal sound. The production by Randall Dunn (Earth, Ash Borer, Melissa Nadler) is also excellent, achiveving a quite clear but very tight sound. Definitely an album to look at for any fan of all things post.
Highlights: You Too Must Die, White Noise, Teenage Lust
