Not One Is Upright is a mathcore band from Grayson, Kentucky. “God Is Not a Watchmaker and the World Is Not Ticking” is their first full-length album released through Red Chord Records.They state in their biography that; “However, above the music is their commitment to Christian ministry through their shows, their album themes, and their lives.”
With this kind of statements I always feel a little bit of anguish to hear the music. But I always have a weakness for mathcore and the music should speak for itself.
The first song start with a country like intro with allot of noise through it. After a short guitar and bass check the song starts screaming “Zeal for your house has consumed me”. The song is nice mathcore song with a little southern influence. The clean vocals are also really good singing; “Seek not your kingdom, seek your king”.
The next song starts pretty fast. The first half of the song sound like a The Chariot song but on the second half we get to hear a spoken word part that reminds me of La Dispute. “So I Asked the Gatekeeper” is a more straight forward mathcore song with a nice guitar solo in the end.
“Where There Is Shame, There Is Fear” starts really chaotic but then the guitars get more atmospheric and built to a climax. The song ends same like the intro with country song with allot of noise.
“Unrefined, My Paradigm” is a short but nice mathcore song with some kind of old gramophone thrown in. “The State vs. The Librarian” starts really heavy at the end of the song there is a part that reminds me of old-mewithoutYou.
“Axes And Owl Eyes” has some ‘happy’ guitars but here also we hear the clean vocals again. “The Watchmaker” is also a nice short mathcore song.
“Aren’t You Very Afraid?” starts with some kind of preacher talking. After that the song starts really slow. Then some screaming/spoken word part that sounds really troubling but also a bit whiny.
“No, I’m Full Of Joy” is also a more slower song but this time its a bit harder. A small spoken word part that is really upfront about their faith: “And I am convinced that neither death nor life, angels nor demons, the present nor the future, nor any powers. Neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus, our Lord.”
Overall: This album is really good you can definitely hear were they got their influences from. But they execute it really good. Also I was a little afraid about their boldness but at the end it became something I love (especially in combination with the awesome music.) Buy this if you love; The Chariot, La Dispute, Touche Amore or Norma Jean.
Rating: 8/10
Tracklist:
1. The Mental Propensities of Phineas Gage
2. Wake Up, #37, Wake Up
3. So I Asked The Gatekeeper
4. Where There Is Shame, There Is Fear
5. Unrefined, My Paradigm
6. The State vs. The Librarian
7. Axes and Owl Eyes
8. The Watchmaker
9. Aren’t You Very Afraid?
10. No, I’m Full Of Joy
Release Date: May 3rd 2011
The Band:
Gerald Dyson
Benjy Jackson
Curt Peffer
Frank Shavers
Label: Red Cord Records