The Grasshopper Lies Heavy – A Cult That Worships A God Of Death Notes
Release Date: 16th June 2021
Label: Learning Curve Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Post-Hardcore, Noise Rock, Sludge, Metal, Dark Post-Rock.
FFO: Corrosion Of Conformity, Down, Eyehategod.
Review By: Ross Bowie
The Grasshopper Lies Heavy are back with their third studio album A Cult That Worships A God Of Death. The band continue to push their mixture of post hardcore, stoner rock and noise rock with varying degrees of success.
A Cult That Worships A God Of Death is an album in two parts. The band trying to not stray too far from their instrumental roots only have vocals on the opening half of the record while the second half is purely instrumental. Unfortunately, this change in formula is not enough. Across the eight tracks the band reuse a similar formula with little variation. The vocals all sit in a similar range and are used more as a percussive tool rather than a focal point of the music.
However, The Grasshopper Lies Heavy can riff. The guitar work all over the album is by far the most impressive and memorable element of their stoner influenced noise rock. When the band start to mix all their influences together they create a sound that is uniquely their own and the fun driving guitar is the highlight of this sound.
The title track clocks in at eight minutes and although it doesn’t welcome many new ideas it does the band’s formula to the highest standard. If the band can continue to meld all their influences together and grow more comfortable with having vocals at the front of their sound, they could make something special. Tennessee see’s the band add some doom elements into their sound and lets them pull back from the barrage of riffs for just a moment. It’s a fun and welcome change and if they can incorporate more ideas like this next time round their creative output will be all the better for it.
If you’re just looking for some fun guitar work and fast paced riffs you can do a lot worse than A Cult That Worships A God Of Death by The Grasshopper Lies Heavy. The band has all the making of something great; they just need to find the right blend of sound and how they can stretch that out over the length of an album. 
(2 / 5)
