Review Summary: We do not sow.
You’re Lucky God, That I Cannot Reach You is a rather peculiar piece of work. That’s a somewhat half-assed way of putting it, I know, but it’s impossible to think of any other word that really comes to mind when describing the pure mayhem (or lack thereof) that is Down I Go’s music. Take “The Serpent of Lagarfljot” for example; the track starts off with your run-of-the-mill hardcore punk riff, shouting vocals and whatnot. As soon as the bridge kicks in, though, it suddenly turns into what can only be described as an experimental choir section, with layered clean vocals and trumpets blaring in the background. This wild, inconsistent song structure prevails throughout the entire album, focusing especially on the use of trombones and other brass instruments on songs such as “Drangey Consecrated” and “Strike It While It’s Still on My Nose”. It goes easily from pure, unadulterated noise rock-influenced fury to calm, melodic, prog-based jollification. Nowhere is this sort of polarity better seen than on album closer “The Sending”. Kicking off with a crunchy, power chord riff, the song soon transforms into an organ-layered chorale halfway through, adding in some ambient noise just for good measure. This weird, mesmerizing style has plenty of charm on its own, but the icing on the cake comes in the form of production value. The raw, unyielding sound design on the more intense bits contrasts beautifully with the more singular nature of the calmer sections. Ultimately,
You’re Lucky God, That I Cannot Reach You sticks out as one of the more intriguing hardcore punk albums released this year; and if this is any indication of where Down I Go intends to go next, God is actually quite unlucky that he cannot be reached.
