Gotthard - Lipservice
Nucleast Blast Records - 2005
By Adam McAuley
Lipservice is a hard album to categorize as it sounds mostly like a rock album, but has a few moments that would make it seem like a metal one. Regardless, the band play an emotional, almost glam form of the former that descends to almost Bryan Adams-esque levels of silliness at times, but remains a reasonably enjoyable listen throughout. The best songs on the album are the straightforward emotional rock ones, as songs like "Everything I Want" are simply too candy-coated and cutesy to really enjoy. But the remainder of the album is fairly enjoyable mid-paced rock, with some nice keyboard work, decent high-pitched vocals and lovelorn lyrics.
The first track "All We Are" is one of the better ones on the album, with its feel-good nature, breezy sound and emotional atmosphere. The rest of the album is a bit of a mixed bag, never bad by any means, but certainly not at the level of what bands like Anathema and Katatonia were able to achieve in their prime, although a comparison is difficult to make because they don't sound a whole lot alike. The point is that the music here is a bit too superficial and light-hearted to ever reach the magnificent heights those bands were able to at times.
Highly glossed music with the occasional emotional high-point and a degree of accessibility is what you'll find here...certainly something that could be taken up by the more mainstream tastes. Expect a decent rock album, especially if you're looking for something to soothe your depressed feelings, but Judgement this isn't. Lipservice gets a mild recommendation at the very most, but only if what I've described sounds particularly appealing to you.
6.5/10
Official Nuclear Blast Website
Official Gotthard Website
Nucleast Blast Records - 2005
By Adam McAuley
Lipservice is a hard album to categorize as it sounds mostly like a rock album, but has a few moments that would make it seem like a metal one. Regardless, the band play an emotional, almost glam form of the former that descends to almost Bryan Adams-esque levels of silliness at times, but remains a reasonably enjoyable listen throughout. The best songs on the album are the straightforward emotional rock ones, as songs like "Everything I Want" are simply too candy-coated and cutesy to really enjoy. But the remainder of the album is fairly enjoyable mid-paced rock, with some nice keyboard work, decent high-pitched vocals and lovelorn lyrics.
The first track "All We Are" is one of the better ones on the album, with its feel-good nature, breezy sound and emotional atmosphere. The rest of the album is a bit of a mixed bag, never bad by any means, but certainly not at the level of what bands like Anathema and Katatonia were able to achieve in their prime, although a comparison is difficult to make because they don't sound a whole lot alike. The point is that the music here is a bit too superficial and light-hearted to ever reach the magnificent heights those bands were able to at times.
Highly glossed music with the occasional emotional high-point and a degree of accessibility is what you'll find here...certainly something that could be taken up by the more mainstream tastes. Expect a decent rock album, especially if you're looking for something to soothe your depressed feelings, but Judgement this isn't. Lipservice gets a mild recommendation at the very most, but only if what I've described sounds particularly appealing to you.
6.5/10
Official Nuclear Blast Website
Official Gotthard Website
