Review Summary: Intentionally tricky but ultimately cathartic
The fifth album from GGGOLDDD (Interesting way to rebrand but I can roll with it) sees the group undergoing what may be their most dramatic style change to date. Originally commissioned as a Roadburn performance, This Shame Should Not Be Mine moves away from the band’s metallic post punk toward a more subdued approach tempered with trip hop electronics and post rock builds. The lyrics detailing the aftermath of experiencing sexual assault also work to give this shift a much more personal, harrowing angle.
Fortunately, the band’s track record for dark material that hits close to home allows them to retain their strengths as performers. The vocals are particularly effective, consistently opting for a calm, clearly enunciated delivery that has a hint of methodical detachment without undermining the inherent vulnerability. From there, the synths and effects provide much of the atmospheric color, the beats have a static industrial quality, and the guitars provide periodic bursts of supplemental heaviness.
And while this method makes for less catchy songwriting than an album like 2019’s Why Aren’t You Laughing?, there are still plenty of phenomenal tracks at play. “I Wish I Was a Wild Thing with a Simple Heart” and “Strawberry Supper” do a splendid job of establishing the mood, but “Spring” is a major head-turner with its verses detailing a visceral collection of thoughts contrasted by the choruses’ gentler imagery. Elsewhere, “Like Magic” brings tremolo picking into the mix, “Invisible” and the title track put in some heavier rhythms, “I Won’t Let You Down” pushes into doom territory, and “On You” and “Beat by Beat” close out on some interesting vocal effects.
This Shame Should Not Be Mine may not be my personal favorite GGGOLDDD album, but it’s certainly poised to be their most impactful. It’s a tricky album to feel out by design as its themes of personal trauma are accompanied by some of the band’s most nebulous textures. It doesn’t aim for the bombast of something like Lingua Ignota but the form of catharsis that it offers manages to be just as compelling. It may not be the ideal entry point for a first-time listener unless they don’t mind a more subtle listen, but it ultimately deserves to be heard. I imagine it was something to experience live.
