Review Summary: Seventeen years after disappearing into thin air, Gospel returns from the grave to deliver an absolute masterstroke.
Some bands stick around far longer than they rightfully should.
Despite peaking early, their sound gets drawn out and twisted into a hollow portrait of once beautiful beginnings. Lineup changes happen. Recording gaffes take the shine out of otherwise promising works of art. And slowly but surely, the quality that sets them apart from the field ends up devolving - until they are unrecognizable from the pack.
Gospel was a different breed. The Brooklyn-based quartet stepped up to the underground screamo plate and not only set new heights for the genre - they left a legacy that few lesser-known bands possess. 2005’s
The Moon is a Dead World was a unique labyrinth of eight tracks that has both stood the test of time and provided a massive amount of influence on follow up acts looking to recapture the magic. The entire album seemed otherworldly, both in sound and in practice - where did this band come from, and how did they manage to turn a genre on its head?
But just as quickly as they arrived, they were gone.
Outside of a vinyl repress and some one-off reunion shows, the band with a rabid cult following that had the potential to sit atop the progressive/hardcore genre they created for years to come decided to part ways. One has to admire the commitment - the members knew they had created their magnum-opus and had nowhere to go but down, so they chose to bow out on their own terms. Yet somewhere along the line, the group had lived fulfilled lives outside of the studio and realized that something was missing. They decided that enough time had passed and the joys of playing together at reunion shows had enough merit to necessitate a long-awaited sophomore attempt.
And with
The Loser, all expectations have been met. The sound is every bit as fresh and vibrant as its predecessor, despite a more notable shift towards progressive rock and away from traditional screamo. The musicianship hasn’t lost a single step since the project folded - if anything, the chemistry seems more apparent than ever given the lengthy hiatus. Gospel has always been most notable for the percussion wizardry of Vincent Roseboom, and as the engine behind the band’s sound, he delivers a delicious array of furious fills that dominate the soundscape. Adam Dooling’s signature tortured shrieks are more prominently mixed this time around and carry a huskier tone, as if the album’s title character is dragging around the weight of expectations. And although there isn’t a single track that completely matches the brilliance of “A Golden Dawn”, album standout “Metallic Olives” sure comes close.
With a starving fanbase and sky-high anticipation that preluded this album, it would have been fully understandable if
Gospel were not able to recapture the lightning in a bottle from nearly two decades ago. It’s a sheer testament to their raw talent and musicianship that they have returned in such an awe-inspiring way, and by way of doing so their legacy has been etched into music history forever. The natural comparisons to
Moon are inevitable, but they are entirely separate pieces and the former's unreachable heights laid the foundation for the more cohesive experience this time around.
The Loser, when all is said and done, is anything but.
