Originally written by Michael Roberts.
The best way I can describe Gigan’s sound is a confrontation between Floridian-styled death metal and Dillinger-esque mathcore somewhere deep in outer space. That third point is crucial, as there’s a definite sci-fi bend to The Order Of The False Eye. Gigan’s mixture of styles has a fair amount of originality to it, and full credit to the band for reigning in these disparate sonic elements as well as they do here. Innovation and musical chops are certainly not lacking on The Order Of The False Eye, and while the songwriting is slightly hit-and-miss, the good easily outweighs the bad.
At its core, Gigan is a death metal band but one that has consumed a significant dose of post-Calculating Infinity noisecore, before topping things off with spacey, psychedelic flourishes. Some of the guitar work by Eric Hersemann is phenomenal, in particular the stuttered riff during “Occult Rites of the Uumpluuy” and the vertigo-inducing lines of “Imprisoned Within Duality”. The vocals of Randy Piro are quite colorful, mainly consisting of a medium-pitch rasp not unlike Zao’s Dan Weyandt, as well as the obligatory low grunts. Aside from the above-mentioned tracks, album highlight would have to be “Hiding Behind the House of Mirrors” with its creepy, atmospheric intro giving way to a potent blast of harmonic-driven math riffs, psych-rock guitar wailing and slamming death metal passages that works a treat.
The Order Of The False Eye doesn’t feature too many surprises after the halfway mark, resulting in an album that doesn’t quite equal the sum of its parts. There are more standout parts of songs than songs themselves, but those parts are good enough to make Gigan worth your time. Check them out if you’re bored with straight-up death metal or after something with a bit of a twist and sense of fun. There’s no doubting that Gigan possess a unique sound and whilst falling short of excellence, The Order Of The False Eye is an impressive first effort that serves the diversity of the death metal scene well.
