Negative Reaction--Everything You Need for Galactic Battle Adventures
Game Two/pscheDOOMelic 2003
On their previous album, The Orion Chronicles, Negative Reaction crafted a slab of monolithic doom topped only by Sleep's Jerusalem. It would be a difficult feat to follow up such a landmark release for any band. However, Negative Reaction have stepped up to the challenge with ease on their third outing, Everything You Need for Galactic Battle Adventures. In the process, Negative Reaction have become the undisputed kings of sludge doom.
With Everything You Need for Galactic Battle Adventures, Negative Reaction have kept the doom elements of their sound just as crushing as on The Orion Chronicles CD. At the same time, this is the clearest or most obvious the band's hardcore and sludge influences have been since their first album, endofyorerror. It's a well-balanced attack that is sure to please fans of all those disciplines.
As far as the songwriting goes, it's as stong as ever from the Negative Reaction crew. Obviously, this is much more "song" oriented than The Orion Chronicles output, as that album was centered around a 30-plus minute long song. These tracks are much easier to digest, legth-wise. While there is riff/section variance in each song on Everything You Need for Galactic Battle Adventures, there remains a sameness to the material. This is due to the way the songs are switched up--doomy sections giving way to injections of hardcore, and vice versa. Many people view sameness of material as a negative but, in this case, it only serves to strengthen the album's sense of cohesion. This is all super strong material, so much so, it's impossible to pinpoint a standout track. It should be said that traditional doom lovers will find a lot to like in Everything You Need for Galactic Battle Adventures, as the doomy sections are very Sabbath-esque in their structures.
Needless to say, if you thought Bongzilla's recent album Gateway was superior sludge doom, Everything You Need for Galactic Battle Adventures will kill you, as it obliterates Gateway (strong praise, since that album is a killer, too). The Orion Chronicles may have been a historic doom recording but this album has truly cemented Negative Reaction's spot in the pantheon of it all. Yet another great album from the band who must now be considered the best sludge doom outfit in the world.
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