Search - Church :: Hologram of Baal

The beginning of a good run

Mephisto_kur | Fairfax, VA | 09/10/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I bought HOB when it first came out, as I do all of their albums. The Church has always been a great band, but many of the last few CDs they've put out there have been the "grow on you" type, even for a diehard fan. There is no doubt that you need a liking for psychedelic for anything after Sometime Anywhere. Baal is most definately a return to a more accessible musical style, and I welcome it.



I would use Baal to introduce the Church to a friend, but it certainly is the beginning of a good run, and I would recommend anything after it to a new listener also. I've found that After Everything...Now This and Forget Yourself are quite possibly the best Church albums since the 80's."

A new phase

Christian Schreier | Zürich, Switzerland | 10/01/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"For me this album starts a new phase in the sound of The Church. The self-production is a mayor factor in their approach and the fact that Peter Koppes is a permanent member again, is evident in the interplay of the guitars (the trade mark of the band anyway).

"Louisiana" is the first example of this mellow, dense and ambient sound that goes on in the other similar sounding tunes; "Tranquility", "Buffalo", "Another Earth" and "Glow-Worm". The use of guitar feedback, reverbed distortion and radiotronics gives the music an almost symphonic sound that disperses very well and produces a huge wall of sound.

My favorite song from the bunch is "Buffalo", which has all the characteristics previously described, plus it really recreates musically a snowy atmosphere. The acoustic guitar with the tambourine feels like slow falling snowflakes, and the flanger effect makes you see the northern lights in a white forest in the middle of the night.

But from the other corner of the album is where the most interesting sounds come. My favorite song from the album is "Anesthesia", maybe because it makes me close my eyes every time I listen to it and feel it. "Ricochet" is an awesome piece of music with very mysterious lyrics and very cool guitar interplay between PK and MWP. To be honest I am more attracted to the darker side of The Church than the softer side, that's why I find more beauty in pieces like "The Great Machine" and "This is It" with the spacious yet claustrophobic feel.

The rocker of the album is "No Certainty Attached", a very cool song with a nice work in the vocals and of course the rocking guitars. This could have been a nice radio hit in an ideal world.

Hologram of Baal is very nice album that starts a new phase in The Church sound, and shows that the band can reinvent them self in every album without loosing their trade mark quality in well crafted pieces of music. For my taste it has a little too much mellow songs, but not that they aren't good."