| Artist: | Graphic Nature |
| Title: | Graphic Nature |
| Label: | GN 05961 |
| Length(s): | minutes |
| Year(s) of release: | 1996 |
| Month of review: | 10/1997 |
| 1) | Dig | 6.23 |
| 2) | I Know | 4.45 |
| 3) | As Above, So Below | 10.04 |
| 4) | Forgotten...gone... | 6.06 |
| 5) | Never | 4.52 |
| 6) | Holding On To The Days | 7.24 |
| 7) | Bringing Me Down | 5.29 |
| 8) | Blur On The Highway | 11.42 |
| 9) | Look To The Shadows | 6.24 |
Not less heavy but with more tempo the album continues with I Know. In the opening we hear organ and the chorus in this case is rather melodic, but it also sounds familiar, it reminds me of the grungy prog band Mercy Train. Again, this is a rock song with a repetitive keyboard backing. The instrumental intermezzo in the middle is quite nice. The song rocks as does the playing of the band.
As Above, So Below opens more melodic and symphonic with synths and rhythm guitar. The vocals are slow and threatening and the song as a whole is quite dark and somber. The repetitive bassline in the back throughout also enhances this and with a nice clear guitarsolo at the end this is a worthwhile track.
There are two sides to Forgotten...Gone: the soft side of the verses and the emotional and strong chorus where we are told that Weak are the Meek. Again this is hard rock with a pianic edge to it to make it more interesting. The melodies are also okay here and the song has a high energy level, because of the strong and muscled vocals (comparable to Cornell of Soundgarden).
Never goes back to the more straightforward rockformat with somewhat little melody and more riffing and rocking.
Then comes Holding On To The Days, which has a very strong melodic opening with some saxophone added for good measure. This song starts as a ballad and surprisingly stays just that during its entire length, over seven minutes. Still, it's a strong composition and does not bore.
Not surprisingly the next one is a rock track. Bringing Me Down is a bit monotonous and doesn't add anything to the previous songs. The break at the end tries to save the song, but it helps only a bit.
The next one up is Blur On The Highway, the longest track (11.24) on the album. At first it evokes with a long arched guitarsound and Doppler effect the deserted highways. Then slowly the drums come on and after more than three and half a minute we come to the slowly sung vocal part. The song plods on, the, to me, vague lyrics are more recited than song. Only at the end does the guitar come loose a bit and the song becomes a bit chaotic.
The moody acoustic Look To The Shadows closes the album in a subdued way.