Gsus SG - Cloverfield Review

Experimental albums are a trick thing. Sometimes they can backfire all the time. There is no rule and no way of knowing it beforehand. “Cloverfiled” isn’t can’t be considered an experimental album per se, but it does has some experimental and instrumental tracks and its mooding goes for the experimental drive. Some ideas can seen very good at first, but when they get real they aren’t that great as imagined as the cover of “Maniac” a 1980’s pop song that could sound great as a Metal song. It’s not that it sounded bad, but there is something wrong with it. Well, some people say that Hell is paved with great ideas. Or else…

Its not easy to find a main drive in “Cloverfiled” as it travels around too many paths. Maybe that’s because mastermind guitarist Gsus SG has been in so many different bands for the time around or maybe because he tried to do something different here. I really don’t know. There are two covers in the album and they are from 1980’s well-known movies. The aforementioned “Maniac” and “Never Ending Story” from the eponymous movie. I have to say that the second sounds better in this Pop Metal version with lots of effects. MOreover, I guess Gsus SG has a thing for the movie because “Fantasia (Atreyu´s Theme)” is also based in it. The thing I can say for sure is that Gsus SG loves to experiment and that’s a good thing. However he insists too much in the electronic effects deal. As I keep on saying electronic effects can be good and can be bad. If they’re too much they can backfire and make the song too soft. That’s what happened to “One Last Summer,” a track that could offer more if it weren’t for the excess of effects. However, I have to say that the guitar solo at the end of the song saves the day. “One Last Summer” is the second drive of the album. It follows the Heavy Pop or Pop Metal path many bands chose in the late 1980s. Openig track “Burn for Love” follows the same path though with some 1990s features in it. The other main drie of the album are the instrumental tracks as “Tania’s Dream” and they are easily the most inspired tracks of “Cloverfiled.” I have no dobt about that. “Tania’s Dream” is sweet and powerful at the same time and it makes the fan goes beyond. From where I’m standing the best track of the album. From them on Gsus SG go deeper into the experimental mood. “Where We Stand” mixes the aforementioned electronic effects with a strong Thrash Metal guitar riff contrasting with the clean voice of Chris Mittler. The song is powerful and achieves the intent of its mastermind that is to mix many influences. The guitar solo at the end is pretty interesting mixing lots of techniques. There is some kind of Metallica’s “Black Album” in it.

“Cloverfiled” is some kind of monster from the 1980’s that was kept alive and brought back to the 2020s. The mix of the effects with the guitars in some songs are a killer, in others they don1t work the way Gsus SG thought they would. A curious album for fans that want to listen to something curious.

Gsus SG “Cloverfiled” was released in May via Gnia.

Track Listing: