The Church
Hologram of Baal

THE REVIEW

A lost album, which I didn't notice upon its release, recorded for Cooking Vinyl instead of Arista. Horrible title and an even worse cover, looking like an '80s dark reject. But then you find the gems, "Buffalo" which brings us back to the Church we know and love, those of "Milky Way", with intimate lyrics, Kilbey's warm and understated voice, and the guitars of Peter Koppes and Marty Willson Piper that converse and trade parts. An acoustic guitar introduces the song and at the first verse “snow came on friday, I gotta go, spending the winter in buffalo,” a sleepy distorted guitar emerges from underneath. We are left speechless upon first listen. This album received zero promotion. "Louisiana" is introduced by reverberating echoes and Kilbey caresses us with his voice “...that’s my story.” "No Certainty Attached" is fast, upbeat. "Tranquility" and "This Is It" get a bit lost, unnecessary. "Another Earth" is a pleasant listen. Two great songs, two not bad, and the others are fillers, yet still a pleasant album, perhaps just unfortunate. The free CD included is titled "Bastard Universe", divided into "Stage 1", "Stage 2", "Stage 3", and "Stage 4" (but there are 6 tracks) and lasts 1 hour and 19 minutes. But I can’t listen to it, a prog rock-ambiental instrumental made of echoes and reverbs. Useless. Unfortunately.