I Am Giant - The Horrifying Truth

  by Dave Goodwin

published: 8 / 5 / 2013

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Review

‘Giant’ (Wiki) – “The mythology and legends of many different cultures include monsters of human appearance but prodigious size and strength...” ‘The Horrifying Truth’ was released in New Zealand as far back as August 2011, and also came out in Australia shortly after that. The album has already debuted at Number 2 in the New Zealand charts, and has currently achieved Gold certification, and was the highest selling NZ rock album of 2011. Not bad, you might say. But there's more impressive stuff to come. They have already picked up a massive 61,000 likes on Facebook. Yep, you did hear it right. A giant 61,000! So there is no wonder that the debut album was also released in Asia on March 2012 and has now come out in Britain. I Am Giant was formed in late 2008, and consists of New Zealanders, Shelton Woolright and Paul Matthews, and also a Brit, Ed Martin. Drummer Shelton Woolright is formerly from critically acclaimed triple platinum selling band Blindspott, the only rock band in New Zealand music history to have both their debut and follow up albums enter the charts at number 1. Bassist Paul Matthews has had success with double platinum selling band Tadpole and more recently Stylus, and is also a producer/engineer in his own right having his own production company producing singles and albums for the likes of the Lagan, Agent and Jason Norris. Ed Martin was the singer in UK band Volume, and has worked as a vocalist with the likes of the Artful Dodger, Bruno Ellingham and Mark Hill. Again, giant-sized stuff! See, I told you it's all impressive. But, trust me, it still doesn't stop there. This is actually one hell of a debut album. Straight from the off with ‘Purple Heart’ which ignites your senses. I Am Giant signal their intent. This is stirring stuff, and it shows off Matthews' talents at producing/engineering. Most debut albums have a slight tinny sound or, if I may be so bold as to say, do not fire on all cylinders, but not this one. ‘City Limits’, the band’s first single bleeds into the excellent ‘Let It Go’, and sets the tone for the rest of the album. Woolwright and Matthews auditioned a hundred and sixty vocalists. including a couple who came over from Portugal for the auditions, before they found Ed. And you can hear why they stopped there. Ed's vocals are the complete compliment to the rest of the band. There are hard-hitting moments like 'Great Escape', the ever changing 'Drag My Name' and second single 'Neon Sunrise', which debuted in the Top 20 singles chart in NZ (and the video for which features 9 times world surf legend, USA surfer Kelly Slater), but the whole album is littered with a more gentle side. While it has points of Skunk Anansie-style anger, it also has some very deep, well thought out and dark moments such as the one and a half minutes each of 'Bodies in the River Nile' and 'The Haunting of Elinor Shaw'. No matter which way you turn to escape this onslaught of brilliance though, you will be left with an awesome, even giant like impulse to do something amazing. Indeed, the band have had tracks featured on many extreme sports DVDs including Quiksilver Euroforce Surfing Videos, Brazilian surfing label Mormail's DVD 'Through South America and America' and 'Cloud 9 Movie- the Kelly Slater Story', and to top all that the band is also sponsored by Gibson Guitars. ..."Fairy tales such as 'Jack the Giant Killer' have formed our modern perception of giants as stupid and violent monsters, sometimes said to eat humans, especially children (though this is actually a confusion with ogres, which are distinctly cannibalistic). The ogre in Jack and the Beanstalk is often described as a giant. However, in some more recent portrayals, like those of Roald Dahl, some giants are both intelligent and friendly, as in 'Gulliver's Travels'. Beware, my friends! The giant has awoken. And he has a taste for success.

Track Listing:-

1 Purple Heart
2 City Limits
3 Let It Go
4 The Escape Artist
5 Electric Throne
6 And We'll Defy
7 Bodies In The River Nile
8 Neon Sunrise
9 Black Hole Of My Heart
10 Nightvision
11 Drag My Name Through The Mud
12 The Haunting Of Elinor Shaw
13 Living The Crash
14 After The War

Band Links:-

https://www.facebook.com/iamgiantband
https://twitter.com/iamgiant