I don’t mean to do Curl Up And Die a disservice when I say that there’s only one song of theirs that blows me away; “God Is In His Heaven, All Is Right With The World” may tower over everything else they ever did, but that’s only because of its ambitious structure. It’s not like their archetypal brand of metalcore is lacking in any major respect, being generally consistent in its chaotic fury, never failing to live up to the standards set by the acclaimed core bands of the 90s whose footsteps it follows in. But just reaching the bar set by those before you isn’t enough. To be truly impressive you need to surpass your influences, go above and beyond what is expected of you and craft something truly spectacular, something memorable in a genre known for its homogeneity: something like “God Is In His Heaven, All Is Right With The World”.
“God Is In His Heaven, All Is Right With The World” is a fourteen minute track of epic proportions that’s selling point is its unusual approach to epic-ness. The usual tendency is to approach this sort of track with a mind-set leaning towards the majestic, the intention being to blow away the audience with sheer theatrical magnitude and grandeur; an intention that tends to result in overblown pomp. Curl Up And Die take the opposite route and for that come off as infinitely more impressive when they pull it off. “God Is In His Heaven, All Is Right With The World” is an understated epic, trundling away slowly and surely on a methodical backdrop of clock-like ticking that is mesmerizingly abstract. It begins with the familiar technique of building up bit-by-bit, starting with nothing but ticking, followed by an urgently frenetic drum beat, then some melodic flourishes and disinterested muttering and so on. Surprisingly the expected crescendo doesn’t arrive, with the track just tailing off into a melodic detour that does suddenly erupt; but then simmers down immediately. It ends by slowly meandering off into oblivion, cloaked in murmurs and a repetitive final melody that is firmly but softly planted in your brain.
It’s a strange track that leaves a lot to the imagination. The closing minutes remain as baffling to me now as they did when I first heard them, which I think is part of the charm. I literally have no idea what it’s all about, but the otherworldly feeling it invokes in me is good enough as far as meanings go. Although if you do want something a bit more grounded to sink your teeth into the other three tracks will do. “If This Band Thing Doesn’t Pan Out We’re Joining The Army” is grippingly off-kilter, “Nuclear Waste? Bring That ***” strikes a nice balance with its bass driven downtime and “It’s a ***ing Time Machine” is a lumbering monstrosity of a track that stutters along ominously, featuring some of the group’s strangest ideas yet. But you’d be missing out if you disregarded the one track here that surpasses the vast majority of the genre, let alone the band’s other work.
