CD Review – Epigene (A rock opera that will make you think)
A Wall Street Odyssey (The City, The Country and Back Again)
Amammi Music
I’m not sure what to think of Epigene. This husband and wife duo worked over three and a half years on this double-disc album that chronicles that story of Yossarian who works on Wall Street. But as the job becomes more intense, he starts losing himself and delving deeper and deeper into alcoholism and drug addiction. His brother eventually finds him and takes him back to the country and a place called the “Settlement of Love.” After getting physically, emotionally and spiritually cleansed, he tries to go back and warn everybody about how Globalization sucks and will destroy the world. They don’t listen and he goes back to communal living.
That’s all fine and peachy, but is this any good? Well, although I really don’t agree with the story, Sean Bigler and Bonnie Lykes pull it off pretty well. Part of the reason is because the music is quite catchy. “Looks Like I Made It,” “The Catch 22” and “Take My Head Off” stick with you like a bad Good Charlotte song. The other reason is the CD packaging. The discs are in the covers of a bound book that contains the story, the lyrics to all 25 tracks and illustrations to further punch home their vision.
The album isn’t always pretty. Tracks like “I Eat the Concrete” and “Isis Conspiracist” are a little unsettling especially lyrically. Epigene does a good job telling their story and they did a fantastic job making everything cohesive, but I don’t personally believe their apocolyptic vision. Does that mean that this is terrible? No. I’m just torn between the fact that the music and packaging is so good, and the vision as a whole is nothing like what I see. So what’s the bottom line? You’ll have to listen to it yourself, think about it and come to your own conclusion.
