This is the second album by Sweden’s One Inch Giant and is the sequel to “Malva“, which is one of the tracks on this one. Considered less “safe” than its predecessor, this riff-inspired progressive work with deep stoner influences has a batch of evocative track titles, suggesting an interesting journey.
“Safe” is actually a word I would use to describe “The Great White Beyond”. It’s not without its merits but I strained to get colour and life out of it. It starts with “The Sea Opens Up”. It’s deep with older style heaviness and rock and roll in its pretensions. The singer sounds like a poor version of Ozzy. This track has punch to be fair but it lacks adventure and the sound is repressed. I barely noticed the transition into “Mountains Will Erode”, which has a decent riff and bass line. There’s a west coast feel in there but the problem again is that it doesn’t move much out of the zone. The singer’s flat voice doesn’t help. “Malva” is just dreary and then there’s a more interesting but short acoustic interlude. Later in the album there’s an acoustic track “Awaiting the Wave”, which was more rounded and suggestive that this is the way that One Inch Giant should go, depending on what they what to achieve. There are moments where glimmers of hope emerge. “My Unshaped Form” is doomy and very much in the Sabbath style. Something seemed to be going on. “Only Scorn Remains” cranks up the heaviness. The riff is compelling. There’s some of that energy which seems to be lacking on this weary journey. The drummer bashes away vigorously but even here where there’s movement and it borders on excitement, there’s no soul to this song. This is the overall song. Almost as if to reinforce this point, along with other tracks, it ends suddenly. My reaction was not to be bothered. “A Fear Aflame” was one of the better tracks. It’s plaintive but again doesn’t go anywhere – nice ending though. I liked the guitar work on the title track and couldn’t fault the instrumentals as a whole, but it’s all so strait-jacketed. The vocals are just uninspiring.
This could be so much more but as it stretched on, I just came to the conclusion that I couldn’t see the point. “The Great White Beyond” simply has no heart. Grating vocals, narrow songs and competent but mostly unadventurous instrumentals don’t add up to a great album. Which this isn’t.
(4.5 /10 Andrew Doherty)
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