Open on the fiery tail of a meteor bursting through the atmosphere. The first track of Godcaster’s fervid self-titled album, “Diamond’s Shining Face,” is a reentry, a display of a band metamorphosed into a harder, more devastating form. Their previous releases and euphoric live demonstrations have established Godcaster as an unstoppable Promethean force, always moving towards their next conquest. For their self-titled second full-length, they have set out, armed with a new certainty, to communicate the feeling of overwhelming light they experience while performing—a brightness that moves beyond its common properties of health and guidance to become a force that burns and ravages. There is a clear maturation from the group on Godcaster. Many of the brighter, bouncier elements fiercely executed on Long Haired Locusts and the Saltergasp EP have been all but buried and traded in for something heavier. The angular sass and joviality in the troupe’s past have been stripped of frivolity, rounded out, dirtied, and stretched to create a more expansive, full-bodied practice. Each of the songs are emotional, narrative vignettes showcasing a more deliberate and sincere lyrical and sonic turn. Nowhere is Godcaster’s newfound immensity better demonstrated than on the album’s two anchoring, ten-plus minute epics—the relentless “Didactic Flashing Antidote,” and the kinetic “Draw Breath Cry Out.” The shorter pieces further demonstrate the dynamism and versatility of the group, with equally hypnotic and roaring pieces (“Vivian Heck” and “Death's Head Eyed Hawkmoth”), alongside gentle, welcome respites (“Albino Venus” and “Pluto Shoots His Gaze”). It requires significant confidence in the work to release an eponymous album. Trust that Godcaster is an immense declaration of self-actualization by the magnificent juggernaut known by the same name.
