CoC : Grope - Desert Storm : Review

Grope - _Desert Storm_
(Diehard, 1997)
by: Paul Schwarz (3 out of 10)

I'd never heard Grope before listening to this album. I'd heard they played death metal, "alternative rock/metal" was what the press release said... I thought "another wimpout". The opening chords to "Pacified" almost proved me wrong but although this and other songs have good parts they are spoiled; either by a stupid lyric, a crap riff or an irritating way of singing. The singer sounds like he is trying to get the aggressiveness of Lemmy with the "angry youth" tones of Silverchair's Daniel Johns, suffice it to say he fails and ends up with a voice which is, most of the time, just plain annoying. One reason why this gets a 3 and not lower is because "Murmur" is a revealingly emotional instrumental. Were it not for the inclusion of "OK For Now", which attempts to be 'weird' and ends up just sounding silly, and lyrics like: "I'm a castout, I am social garbage, I am a zit, On society's face, I have a bad ear, I cannot hear you" and "I have a bad arm, I cannot reach you", this album would only be flawed, as it is, it is fatally flawed.

(article published 16/10/1997)