Godmode by In This Moment | Album Review
In This Moment folds electronic elements into their heavy sound on their 2023 release.
I have long known of Maria Brink’s intensity on the mike from first hearing her 2012 single “Whore.” Her controlled yet guttural vocal style captured me when I heard it. Lead singer Maria Brink and guitarist Chris Howorth have been at the centerpiece of the band since 2005. Their latest release, GODMODE, was born out of the feverish creative streak they had during quarantine. Brink gave insight into how the album’s title and themes surround the notions of empowerment in her Songfacts interview:
“The album itself felt fierce. It felt really powerful. And we’re always about empowering people and wanting people to listen to the music and feel empowered with themselves. Our last album [Mother, 2020] was a bit more on the somber side because we were really depressed when we went into that album. But on this album, we felt fire and we felt really all the things. I’m always speaking about certain spiritual aspects and tend to sway into that… But this name, GODMODE, is powerful, epic, limitless. And then Chris when I told him, he’s a huge gamer, and he was like, ‘Actually, in the gaming world, god mode is something you can turn on that your character can’t die and all these cool things.’ So he loved the name right off the bat. It was a no-brainer for Chris and me.” — Maria Brink via Songfacts (2023)
“Godmode” immediately ignites the flames. Maria’s slashing growls claw her out of submission and into battle-ready form. I love the juxtaposition of her powdery sweetness in the chorus as she relishes in the power she feels, “(Godmode) You’ve got me feeling like god, yeah/ (Godmode) You’ve got me feeling so high/ (Godmode) You lift me off of my feet, yeah/ (Godmode) You’ve got me feeling like, feeling like I’m in godmode.” The high-octane energy blasts those who challenge you like a sandstorm.
The debut single, “The Purge,” deals with the compounding sins of the human race that are slowly making our planet uninhabitable. Chris discussed how the building tension during the pandemic shaped the themes in the track:
“This song came from our time in lockdown. We all had our own personal experiences during the pandemic, and we all saw the social unrest unfolding daily tearing us apart. It was such a crazy time. Our band, like everything else, was stopped in its tracks. During the lockdown I was sending Maria musical ideas I was working on, and this one really resonated with her. She even said, ‘This is gonna be our first single.’ Fast forward a couple years and all the pent-up frustration and angst came pouring out in Maria’s lyrics and performance, creating this crazy visceral song.” — Chris Howorth via blabbermouth.net (2023)
You can hear Maria’s disgust in our actions in the song’s chorus, “Maybe we’re all fucked/ Maybe we’ll all burn/ Maybe we’ll all just purge and yeah/ Maybe we’ll all die/ Maybe you were right/ Maybe we’re all just parasites.” I wish Brink’s low growl in the verses had more bite. Her scream during the song’s bridge is fantastic. If more of that fire was brought earlier in the track it would dial up the intensity. As it stands, I think some of the lyrics and vocals feel a bit disjointed from the main theme to grab me.
There have been numerous covers of Björk’s industrial hit “Army of Me.” In This Moment’s reinvention keeps the soul of the original while dialing up the rock energy to 100. Brink’s trademark ferocious scream slashes wildly at all those who challenge her rage. The duo whittled down several of Björk’s tracks to cover this after Maria took an interest in tackling her work:
“I love Björk. I’m a huge Björk person. I grew up in the ’90s just loving her, and I was always so inspired by her. We wanted to do a cover, and I always get tracks — they call it my ‘art tracks’ — where I can just do this and that. And this was one of those songs that I picked where I wanted to do a cover and showed Chris three different Björk songs. This was the one that he loved the most. He liked it right off the bat.” — Maria Brink via Songfacts (2023)
I appreciate her keeping an icy glare to each verse. Its cold delivery only bolsters the disgust she harbors over the sloth-like, entitled behavior of the song’s target. It reminds me quite a bit of the remix Björk and Skunk Anaise created back in 1995, albeit with the spice of Maria’s unrelenting anger from her refrain of “You’ll meet an army of me.”
“Sacrifice” takes us into the industrial rock territory similar to Nine Inch Nails’s work. I love the strength Maria presents in her vocal performance. It’s theatric yet intense. This wave of energy displays the urgency she feels around potentially being caustic to her partner, “I told you, you don’t want me/ I showed you what I am/ I told you I’d consume you/ Still you’re crawling around my pain/ So tell me why are you still here?/ So tell me why you just won’t go?/ So tell me what I got to do now?/ To come alive again.”
“Skyburner” dives us into the waves of desire. Brink’s passion seeks to absorb every drop of this attention she’s receiving, “I feel so high, I am floating/ Come back down, envelop all of me/ Melt away into nothing/ You’re the chemical I want to breathe/ Watch me burn/ Fall into the flames/ Skyburner burn away/ Burst into a blaze/ Skyburner, skyburner.” Their electronic sound melts away into the heat of sensuous hard rock that bursts forth the sense of craving Maria feels.
Brink calls to be absolved of her darkness on “Santicify Me.” She hopes that this relationship will bring light into her life, “Go ahead, set me free/ Wash away this dirt in me/ I wanna feel more holy/ Take away this hurt in me/ Show me/ Who I am inside your light/ Give me just what I need/ Baptize and sanctify me.” Their religious allegory mixed with the dirty rock treatment makes this baptismal experience a much more sexual one. Again, I wish Maria’s low growl in the verses brought more passion to the piece. The lyrics hold this connection to the one she’s speaking of that her aggression doesn’t match.
“Everything Starts and Ends With You” is a celebration of the connection Maria and her partner share. She lets all know that no earthy power contains the same devotion they have for each other, “No life, no death/ No force can separate us/ No time, no space/ No road I wouldn’t walk for you/ No place, no storms/ No oceans in between us/ Could take me away from you.” The band keeps electricity crackling through the wave of sound that crashes onto the listener. The passionate tone of Brink’s voice gives a powerful sensuality to the entire track.
The combination of Maria and ICE NINE KILL’s Spencer Charnas takes me back to the rock music of the 2000s on “Damaged.” The duo uses a lot of comparisons to various mental disorders to get across their internal turmoil. Their broken state actively sees them asking if their spiraling status is too much to handle, “Am I too damaged for you/ After everything we’ve been through/ And if you go, I won’t stop you/ You’re not damaged like me/ Am I too damaged for you?/ After everything we went through/ If you stay, I won’t stop you/ You’ll end up damaged like me.” The combination of Brink’s seething rage and Charnas’s dramatic vocals do an excellent job selling the panic and sorrow radiating from their words.
“Fate Bringer” has an interesting duality to its themes. On one hand, Maria’s cold rage could relate to the death of the love she once had for a partner. On the other, it could display a closure to a prior belief system she used to have. The chorus, “I don’t owe you anything/ You don’t have control/ You don’t have control anymore/ Fate bringer/ You’re not mine anymore,” could honestly go either way. Her shift from her trademark scream to a cooler, passionate vocal performance brings finality to her decision.
The final track, “I Would Die For You,” was included on the soundtrack for John Wick Chapter 4. The group gives the track an equally cinematic quality. Brink’s obsessive devotion pours forth as she sings, “I’d die for you/ There’s nothing I won’t do/ And I can plead for you/ I’d do it all for you/ I’d kill for you/ It’s simple, yes, it’s true/ There’s nothing I won’t do/ I would die for you.” It reminds me of a much heavier take on Garbage’s “#1 Crush.” This comes through the most for me in the sensuality that Maria perfumes her entire performance. It gives this femme fatale character a much more dangerous sense of delusion.
I am glad I got the chance to listen to his album. Brink’s vocal skills make her brand of hard rock/metal music an extraordinary listen. There were moments where her growl felt a bit flat on “The Purge” and “Santicify Me.” Additionally, I felt the lyrical content of these tracks didn’t match either the intensity or subject matter they were given. A greater extent of the tracks on this project gave off the ferocity of a lioness on the prowl. Both “Godmode” and her cover of “Army of Me” felt perfect compliments to each other. The inclusion of Spencer in “Damaged” provided much more depth to the mania being released. I’m glad to hear In This Moment continuing to fold their sound into new territories.
My overall thoughts on GODMODE:
Loved it: “Godmode”, “Army of Me”, “Sacrifice”, “Damaged” (feat. Spencer Charnas) & “I Would Die For You,”
Liked it: “Skyburner”, “Everything Starts and Ends With You” & “Fate Bringer”
Disliked it: “The Purge” & “Santicify Me”
My overall rating: 6.5 out of 10.
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