Nick Beggs and the boys are back with weighty thoughts on their mind
It might be one small step for man, and one giant leap for mankind and all that, but If you go into outer space without protection, you’ll die. And not pleasantly either. You’d lose air in your lungs, your ear drums would rupture, oh and you’d balloon in size. And your blood would boil. Finally, your cells would ionise. All this would happen in 15 seconds.
Unless you are a Tardigrade. These tiny things are never more than 1.5mm long and scientists blasted a few thousand of them into space a few years ago, not only did they survive, they bred. And the offspring were healthy.
Perfect material then for a prog rock album with the impending apocalypse on its mind.
The Mute Gods are back with their second album in a little over a year, and where debut effort “Do Nothing Until You Hear From Me” looked at society in general, “The Tardigrades Shall Inherit The Earth” looks at the ways in which society is destroying itself.
As you might expect, that makes the 11 songs here pretty dark. It begins with “Saltatio Mortis” (translation: dance of death) which is written by Roger King (who along with singer, bass player and guitarist here, Nick Beggs, has worked extensively with Steve Hackett) and goes deeper from there.
“Animal Army” kicks in with heavy, ominous riffery and almost orchestral overtones, but Beggs has a light, airy delivery, which makes The Mute Gods a really interesting proposition.
Eschewing guests this time around (the last one was full of them) there is much more of a band feel about this now rather than just a “project” for the three to be involved in (the outfit is completed by Marco Minneman drummer for Steven Wilson et al). That shines through on the work like the electro rumblings of “We Can’t Carry On” and the fine “The Dumbing Of The Stupid” which is a vicious attack on both the media and the consumers of it.
There is a rare gift for original songwriting here too. “Early Warning” weaves three on the face of it disparate stories together wonderfully, and the title track is perhaps the most personal – as well as being the heaviest – thing here “and (now/we look much older/older than we’ve ever been/we have a pension/hair replacement therapy/walks in the park/with grandchildren intones Begg. In a manner that suggests that everyone here knows how quickly time slips away.
There is also an unusual brevity about these songs too. Not many are past the six minute mark – perhaps a reflection of the urgency in the lyrics? Whatever, the lush tones of “Window Of The Sun” don’t need to be a longer than this, and the instrumental “Lament” is perfect at just over two minutes.
The longest cut on offer “The Singing Fish Of Batticaloa” (and at eight and a half minutes it too is pretty much punk rock in prog terms….) comes with the idea that the natural world is trying to tell us something, while the closing affair “Stranger Than Fiction” is a ray of hope that says love is our only hope.
It might be that they are right, but then if music can still change the world then The Mute Gods can still make a difference. Either way this is thought provoking stuff from one of the finest prog rock bands in the UK right now.
Rating 8/10
