Review: Geres – Idle Worship

Style: prog metal, post black metal (mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Devin Townsend, Ayreon, Mechina
Review by: Andy
Country: Canada
Release date: 28 July 2023

Emotional reactions to music seem primal, ingrained in the cultural consciousness, but I rarely–if ever–experience music from that viewpoint. Nope, all this is a purely intellectual exercise for me. However, an album can occasionally effect some emotion from my untenanted chest cavity: All it takes is a particular blend of choral elements and atmospheric tremolo picking. Perhaps the best example of what elicits this response from me is Sunyata’s The Great Beyond and any of its crushing climaxes. Geres, a tiny prog metal band from Canada, may seem an unlikely contender, but they have these grandiose Romantic climaxes my aching heart swoons for spread throughout new album, Idle Worship. Does their interpretation of staring with a “view of the entire cosmos” stack up with the triumphant peaks woven throughout their sprawling three-track album? 

God this album low key sucks. Besides choices that would hinder basically any album (like the copious amounts of spoken word), the pacing and production are particularly painful. While I think I can track the thought process of Geres, starting “Immensity” with six minutes of isolated vocals with detached guitar chords–it has to be some attempt at a dramatic crescendo–wasting six minutes of time so early in an album is disastrous. Not to mention that this extended intro section transitions into nearly incomprehensible spoken word about watching elephants on TV. Idle Worship starts with a two-strike count. But just as I was getting ready to put this album on the shelf and call it a day, that shiny, emotional grandeur I mentioned in the intro started; my ears perked up.

With a Devin Townsend-circa-Empath–and a dash of Mechina for good measure–vibe, the bright choral section is downright epic. And while I’m name dropping, let me throw out a Dessiderium. Geres somehow emulate the unique prog-black-metal-gone-tech-death style of Dessiderium… gone completely vapid. Where Dessiderium’s intricate, groovy guitar parts convey a depth of emotional, sage-like maturity, Geres uses a similar tone to absolutely no marked effect. While uncanny, the empty void Geres managed to compose surely stems partially from the production. 

Geres’ production is flat, un-nuanced, and hollow. Even the epic sections I sort of love are robbed of their splendor by these woes, and the more boring sections like the weird chant in “Divinity” or the doomy section in the middle of “Reflection” are almost intolerable because the instruments sound so dead. This sterile production robs the album of all character and emotion; such production belongs more on a middling post black metal album than a genuine attempt at a prog metal one. A band cannot attempt to reach Devin Townsend’s level of awesomeness without a fraction of his production capabilities. 

Additionally, the story of Idle Worship is downright strange, especially with all the spoken word–my personal favorite of which being a clip from The VVitch that I’d previously heard on Infant Annihilator’s classic “Motherless Miscarriage.” In the words of the band: “Idle Worship is a story that starts from a tiny, dark room and ends with a view of the entire cosmos. The listener is put through an emotional ride as we feel the tension between fate and fortune and struggle against blind faith.” Rather than interpret the weird, Christian sounding lyrics, I encourage you to go listen for yourself as they’re truly an experience worth the price of admission, whether it’s the forty-thousand generations dead in “Immensity” or the strange chanting section about love in “Divinity.” I at once felt like I was in the dark room and could see the universe with my newly opened third eye… I think. 

And that “I think” is how I feel about the album at large, musically and lyrically. I just cannot form a strong opinion. A couple elements of Idle Worship are immensely pleasing and rich, but more frequently I’m confused and disappointed by the inert execution, especially the singers who both seem capable yet appear to be autotuned (or maybe fed through a vocoder). If heartless Devy or vapid Dessiderium sound appealing to you, though, who am I to tell you otherwise? I mean… I think I love hate it?

Recommended tracks: Immensity, Reflection
You may also like: Dessiderium, Max Enix, Entheogen, Sunyata, Heimskringla, Culak, Wills Dissolve, Vitam Aeternam
Final verdict: 4/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | YouTube | Facebook

Label: independent

Geres is:
– Andrew Gordon Hill (vocals, instruments, composition, production)
– Amanda Braam, Cam Sharer, Micah Gordon, Johanna Kiik (vocals)
– Jason Raso (bass)
– Alex Baran (piano)
– Stuart Brignell (saxophone)