Beware of Gods Premiere “The Science of Slow Moving Monsters”; Upon Whom the Last Light Descends II: Amnesia Island Out May 2
Posted in audiObelisk, Reviews on March 21st, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Chicago-based post-metallic conceptualist outfit Beware of Gods will release their second full-length, Upon Whom the Last Light Descends II : Amnesia Island, on May 2, taking the title in part from the fictional setting — at least I’m pretty sure it’s fictional, can’t quite remember — where the songs take place. Spearheaded by Jason O’Donnell, who also uses the weighty nom The Archetype, the sophomore LP continues the vocalist/multi-instrumentalist’s collaboration with drummer Kellii Scott (Failure) and brings in two new parties in sound designer Feederwire and guest guitarist Eric Plonka, but the prevailing vision remains in line with what Beware of Gods laid out across their likewise-cumbersomely-named 2022 debut, Upon Whom the Last Light Descends Pt. I : I Am Named After Death, wherein lie the roots both of the new album’s aversion to putting the colon in its title next to the Roman numeral and its prog-metal-encompassing scope.
Which is to say that Upon Whom the Last Light Descends II : Amnesia Island pushes further from where the debut left off, deepening the arrangements — oddly enough, bringing in a sound designer has upped the level of sound design; stay tuned for more useful lifehacks — and generally broadening the reach of the material. O’Donnell himself is a big presence in the material. His vocals come in admirably Devin Townsend-esque swaps between extreme metal screams and soaring prog melodies, and in steering the arrangements across these eight tracks from the atmospheric/shouted intro “Concussion Dream” through the spoken part in closer “Temple of Thieves,” there is an auteurial sensibility that comes through the 49-minute span. This continues the evolutionary thread from the previous LP even as the narrative those songs laid out — the whole Pt. I/Pt. II thing; there are reportedly two more chapters to come — likewise finds its next chapter.
Shades of mid-to-late 1990s influences abound, perhaps most vividly Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails, by whom both the vocal patterning in the penultimate “The Science of Slow Moving Monsters” (premiering below) and the distorted piano line in “The End of the Wide Awake Nightmare” seem to be informed, as well as O’Donnell‘s musings about the “man I was before” in
“Temple of Thieves.” One could argue that shows up in “Lysergic Liturgies of a Schizo Messiah” as well, but the manner in which that song ups the thrust and punch factors after the crunch and churn of “The Doomsday Zealot of Amnesia Island” leads to a galloping finish lets Beware of Gods burn through a more aggressive catharsis, a harder metallic bite, where the lead guitar in “D.I.E. Sect” feels more specifically in conversation with “Grind” from the self-titled Alice in Chains LP. The Faith No More meets Author and Punisher outset vibe in “The End of the Wide Awake Nightmare” before it diverges into the aforementioned piano and ends-screaming spoken word sends a hidden message about the methodical nature of how all of these influences have come together, and further, highlights the consciousness behind all of it.
“D.I.E. Sect” gets noisy like electronica and obviously, “Submerged by the Ghost of a White Whale” — which on its own consumes more than 15 minutes of the total runtime — is going to be a focal point, but it’s also emblematic of just how manifested Upon Whom the Last Light Descends II : Amnesia Island feels. No one song is just one thing. Whether it’s a buried-deep screaming layer in O’Donnell‘s vocals later on or the Meshuggah-chug that follows the vocals in getting more chaotic and theatrical as the album’s most extended piece builds, offset but not undone in impact by a melodic chorus and a highlight of depth. Like much of what surrounds, “Submerged by the Ghost of a White Whale” digs in, feels conceived and seen through, worked on, hammered out, however you might want to say it. Coinciding with the basic tracks of Scott‘s drums and the guitar, bass and keys is a range of atmospheric and ambient elements, such that Beware of Gods prove no less capable of setting a mood either in “Submerged by the Ghost of a White Whale” or anything that surrounds as of bashing that same mood to itty-bitty pieces with their heaviest stretches.
That meld itself is something individual, but more crucial to the persona of the album and the band as a whole is the deep-running feeling of intention that runs from front to back. Whether a given part is spacing out or brooding, reciting narrative in an effects-manipulated spoken word or crushing a riff en route to the next thing, Upon Whom the Last Light Descends II : Amnesia Island is aware of the choices being made, aware of the direction of its craft, of the influences and inspirations with which it’s in conversation. Maybe this shouldn’t be such a shocker from a project that’s set itself to the task of releasing a four-part narrative concept album cycle, but it’s a prevalent if not directly stated factor in the listening experience that informs everything the band — and it does sound like a band more than a solo-project, wherever the line might lie between the one and the other — does. Even the most unhinged moments here have been sculpted.
It’s a little bit before it’s actually out, but hopefully the closing duo — because “Temple of Thieves” is already streaming, find it near the bottom of this post — gives some sense of where Beware of Gods are coming from at this apparent halfway point in their larger polyptic.
PR wire info follows the player below. As always, I hope you enjoy:
Jason O’Donnell on “The Science of Slow Moving Monsters”:
“The Science Of Slow Moving Monsters” was initially inspired by the YouTube video featuring a slow, long track tornado that hit Fargo, ND in the mid sixties. My fascination with tornadoes, especially wedge tornadoes, knows no end. I feel like I’m trying to capture that power in my guitar riffs. That said, TSSMM is inevitably an amalgam of influences from Prong & Helmet to Alice In Chains & COC. The subject matter is part of an ongoing narrative regarding the protagonist I Nomad & his journey from Terror to Transcendence.”
Tracking with Pete Grossmann at Bricktop is a highlight of my career & life. His work with Huntsmen, Frail Body, Gates To Hell, Warforged & his own band High Priest is prime, top of the peak, best out there imo… Eric Plonka (Scientist, Yakuza, DRÖV, PLNKA) laid down additional heavy blankets of creepy, other worldly guitars in just the right sections, that seem to be crawling of a formless void. Kellii Scott of Failure is of course beyond monumental to the deep ditch digging groove factor on drums, laying a foundation for Feederwire (REKT, Unterm Rad) to construct a digi-doom encrusted network of futuristic soundscapes & Sci Fi audio architecture.
‘Upon Whom The Last Light Descends’ by Beware Of Gods is a IV Part, Epic, Psychoperatic Cathartic Concept inspired by ‘The Blind Idiot God’ from the HP Lovecraft mythos known as Azathoth, a malevolently indifferent Infinite Creator of Chaos re imagined as the Looming Dread treading all of Us which can only be overcome by turning to face it. Other literary & film inspirations include : Dune, The Matrix, Dracula, Demian, Mad Max, Blade Runner, Jonah & The Whale & Foundation.
From melancholy to pure menace, the vocals of B. O. G. lone wolf Jason O’Donnell aka The Archetype soar across UWTLLD and hover like a cloud of locusts within the angular atonal trudging combat between his doom laden guitars & calderaesque fuzzed out bass pummeling. The droning trudging of dissonant riffage is backed by the solid, just ‘behind the beat’ groove of guest drummer Kellii Scott of Alt Space Rock Giants Failure. Beware Of Gods is a Warning and a Blessing. An Honoring Of The Gift of Despair from which Clarity takes Flight and We find the Courage to face the Monster, to Reconcile It to Become and Overcome It…
In terms of ambient soundscapes, there are also stellar initial stabs at sound design work on PT I that bring to mind Skinny Puppy or even NIN. From here, my journey into the B. O. G. gets really interesting because after for PT II & III, the addition of Sound Design veteran Feederwire & Engineer/Producer Pete Grossmann (Gates To Hell, Warforged, Weekend Nachos, Frail Body, Scientist, Huntsmen) of Bricktop Recording is already bringing the concept into even more focus & catapulting it into what The Archetype references in the intro ‘Concussion Dream’ as ‘Amnesia Island’ :
“A post apocalyptic glitchy outpost floating in a bio mechanical ocean that is appearing to lead us along, with it’s protagonist/hero I Nomad, into an even deeper hybrid of analog & digital sounds that provide the landscape for a cast of broken antagonists trapped in a narrative of Self Worship & self determined demise.”
Tracklisting:
1. Concussion Dream
2. The End Of The Wide Awake Nightmare
3. Submerged By The Ghost Of A White Whale
4. The Doomsday Zealot Of Amnesia Island
5. Lysergic Liturgies Of A Schizo Messiah
6. D. I. E. Sect
7. The Science Of Slow Moving Monsters
8. Temple Of Thieves
Co Produced, Engineered & Mixed – Pete Grossmann
Mastered – Brad Boatright
Recorded at : Bricktop Recording
Executive Producer – Christopher Dyer
Artwork – Unexpected Specter
Jason O’Donnell – Vocals, Guitar, Bass & Synth
Feederwire – Sound Design & Additional Guitars on Submerged…
Eric Plonka – Additional Guitars on Temple Of Thieves and D. I. E. Sect
Kellii Scott – Drums
