"This work is not about God. It is a criticism of the socio-political system..." So opens "The God Album Companion," a fairly detailed look at the lyrics and thought patterns found on Monsterwork's new album The God Album. "The purpose is not to disprove or marginalize personal belief," it continues, although later lyrical commentary makes it clear that the album is written from an, "I'm smart, because I'm an atheist, and if you're a theist you're...not smart" point of view.

So, you know, if that's the sort of thing that bothers you, then you may as well look elsewhere.

Lyrics aside, The God Album has a cool blend of styles wrapped up in the prog framework. Tempo shifts abound; album opener "Everything You Believe Is A Lie" manages to cover the full range of heavy sludgy groove to blasting and thrash in about the first minute of the track. That track is also kind of interesting in the major key guitar melodies, giving a very "happy" feeling (for lack of a better term) to contrast to the lyrics slamming the Abrahamic religions.

Follow up "Monomythic" is punishing right out of the gate. "Reprieve" is, true to its word, an acoustic-driven breather with lyrics (conspicuously absent from the book) that sound ironically like a choir, before launching into another blasting opening to "The Enemy of My Enemy." "Origin" transitions between acoustic and electric and has a great harmonized vocal line. "False Miracle" starts off sounding like another acoustic interlude, but turns into something much closer to grind.

Truth be told, the vocal range and variety on the album is maybe the most impressive part, from the death/grind kind of growl to clean vocals to a shriek I might compare to Stu Block from Into Eternity. Not to discount the rest of the musicians, of course, who are tight throughout regardless of whether the song calls for a pocket groove or frenetic, chaotic riffing. There are plenty of lead guitar passages across the album, but none of them particularly jump out--I guess it's just a result of playing to serve the song, rather than going for showmanship.

There's really nothing else to say about this. It's a solid album full of good songwriting and playing and that doesn't sound like insert-band-from-style-of-the-week here. Go check it out.