If you missed Echoes by Titanosaur, you’re not the only one. Goeff has been a friend for a while, and I totally missed it when it came out in September. Let’s fix that, because it truly is one of the best albums of the year.
When I interviewed Geoff, the brains behind Titanosaur, I made a small but meaningful mistake. I pointed out that his lyrics are not based on fantasy. What I meant was that they’re not fictional. He doesn’t make-up stories, or make general social commentary. Instead, he writes about his world, his reality, his life.
In the Heavy Underground, there is no lack of music dealing with death, fear, and the realities of modern life. What makes Titanosaur stand out is the way the deals with the issues: realistically and head on. Opening track Bring Down the Sun is lyrically very close to Enter Sandman by Metallica. Except this time it goes beyond a waging a child’s fears concerning nightmares. It’s about dealing with the realities of our mortality.
I will let Geoff’s writing speak for itself. I can tell you that, musically, this is more akin to mid-90s Industrial and Heavy Goth. For the most part, it’s an angry and aggressive sound. The riffs are huge and crunching, but they are far more Tommy Victor (Prong) than they are Iommi in inspiration.
The dude writes songs like this while waiting in the hospital for a heart transplant, only to find out his hard got too healthy and he’s moved back in line on the list. He has the strength and energy to pick his guitar up for about 2 to 3 hours a day, lay down some licks, and plan his production. All of Titanosaur is produced on a laptop, using Garageband. No fancy studio, no expensive nights, just a relentless fury and determination to turn fear and helplessness into a rallying cry. Talk about not going gentle into that good night!
But if you think he’s writing this stuff to get our sympathy, you can fugetabouttit. Dude’s from Queens, and he’s been brushing his teeth with despair for years. But what he does accomplish, what he gets across to us, is the recognition that one way or the other we’re all in the same damn boat. It’s like he’s writing about this to help the rest of us feel better about our shitty situation. In the meantime, here’s a couple songs to tide you over…
Then there’s amount of work, care, and attention to detail that he throws into his projects. You can order a CD with a custom poster for your favorite song. If you buy the album off Bandcamp, you get the artwork for each song, which is such a New Generation replacement for the old gatefold LP. Oh, and he does the artwork during that two, maybe four hours per day that he has the energy to get his head off his pillow.
This is UDSA Prime stuff, and for whatever reason it slipped under the radar when it was first released. If you’re in the mood for something heavy, straight to the point with an Industrial tinge, this is the stuff for you.
Titanosaur is relentless music for a relentless age. We are all either living in, or witnessing, one huge world-wide shit show lately. We can crawl under our beds and whine, or we can strap on a guitar and rage against the dying of the light.
As the man himself writes in In the Echoes:
Echoes of tomorrow's past
Haunt us like ghastly apparitions
Let's leave a legacy of light
For the future to behold
