The Great Barrier Reefer

As a prog fan (and someone who likes both stoner/doom, and exceedingly long songs), I was happy going into this song. I had a remarkably good experience with Light of Day, Day of Darkness, another song of similar length, and was in the 'go big or go home' kind of move. Now, I'm not saying that this song is a 150% value-price load of grade-A bullcrap. But I am saying ... well, it could have been better.

One of my problems/enjoyments about stoner/doom Metal is the repetitive element. I typically find this genre of metal to be very head-bangy and just fun to listen to. Stoner/doom has a leg up on other genres, in that, when a band gets a cool riff, they know it, and they play it long in order to let the audience enjoy it too. Far too many bands in my experience, when they have a good riff, don't use it enough for the listener, don't manipulate it, don't let it run its course. However, there is at thorn at either extreme; too much repetitiveness can make a riff boring, so you have to be able to read your song's emotion well. Also, we're assuming the riff is good.

The Great Barrier Reefer is divided into three parts, each about 23ish minutes. The second part is the upswing on the album, 23 minutes of enjoyable riffs, repeated to perfection (but not to oversaturation), filled with head-banging goodness. The third part is somewhere between exceptional and good. For instance, the second part featured exceptional riffs, while the third featured riffs that, while not bad, per se, are also not incredibly good, and not something I would be interested in listening to over and over again. Honestly, the last two thirds of this piece are well worth listening to, at least if you're not looking for Dream Theater-levels of variation and artistry. If you want something to blast out of your car windows on your way to work, or to lift the sign of the horns proudly in the air, the latter 2/3rds of this song are well worth it, and honestly, if they had been the entirety of the song, then my review of this album would have been a great deal different (think more, 80%).

Of course, that's negating the first part ... daaang that poor first part. Now, I'm all for doing new and interesting things in music. I'm all for minimalism, maximallism, artistry and anything that makes a song interesting. If you want to pull a Dream Theater and stick 100+ time signature changes in 6:17 of music (The Dance of Eternity), go for it. If you want to be Hans Zimmer and use a single tune of music to make your entire score (Inception), I'm down with that. If you want to interlace your music with spoken words and speeches for effect, do it ... but remember that uniqueness is least appreciated in excess. I'm referring specifically to the first 7 minutes of this song, which, while presumably an attempt at uniqueness, becomes a heinous indecency to enjoyable music (the last 15ish minutes of this part are feature unenjoyable, indescript riffage that's not worth much of anything; that's pretty much all that can be said about it). The first 7 minutes feature a riff, a creepy acousticy riff which, in and of itself, isn't bad. It actually becomes interesting when a man begins to quote passages from St. John's Revelation. I admit, that this is a novel way to begin a song, and, with a little more thought, could have been incredible. Unfortunately, the song drags on through long ... looong passages (almost three whole chapters of Revelation are quoted), spoken in a dull, unintriguing monotone. To make matters worse, the same guitar riff continues for seven whole minutes, and believe me, this is not one that bears repeating. In the end, going through this song is not an easy experience, even if you like stoner, and even if you enjoy obnoxiously long music.

In summary, I'd recommend that this is worth at least one listen or two, but not much more. If you're looking for some fun, head-banging music, listen to part 2, and perhaps part 3, but avoid part 1 at all costs. If you're not much into long songs, but are interested in expanding your palate, I would recommend listening to some 7-8 minute Dream Theater songs ("Panic Attack", "Root of All Evil", "On The Backs of Angels", and "As I Am" stand out), some longer songs in the 15-25 minutes range (Theocracy's "Mirror of Souls", and Blind Guardian's "And Then There Was Silence" are good starts), or, if you just want to dive in, go for "Light of Day, Day of Darkness", by Green Carnation.