To the mainstream, gODHEAD are commonly mistaken as protege's of Marilyn Manson, following a stint on his ill-fated Post Human Records label. In actuality, the band have been around making a name for themselves since the early to mid 90's, releasing a string of albums that established them a loyal following long before "2000 Years Of Human Error" ever hit stores. Seeing perhaps their greatest commercial success with that aforementioned opus however, the band have now returned with a new label and an ultimately more streamlined sound on "Evolver", their latest slab of pulsing electro-goth oriented rock.

While traditional industrial influences were a large component of the bands musical arsenal on their previous releases, they now seem to have been phased out a bit in favor of more friendly electronica meets radio rock like progressions. Compounding this is a broader usage of melodies present which the band readily take full advantage of, riding out catchy choruses and gloomy hooks with an almost anthem reminiscent fervor. Indeed, with a breadth of easily accessible songs that are offset by the somewhat dark lyrical content and foreboding atmosphere, gODHEAD have made their most educated stab at accomplished song-writing so far - at least by contemporary standards.

Unfortunately though, this new plateau also comes with many pitfalls, the first of which being the sacrifice of their more credibly aggressive/nihilistic underground sound of old. In fact, during the course of this album the group actually sound a lot more like a mid to late 90's era Stabbing Westward than anything else, and this will probably rub a few of the bands older fans the wrong way. In essence "Evolver" is a slick electro-rock record that contains few surprises and all the 'proper' hooks, making its polish both its blessing and its curse. Being as straight-forward as it is, it's hard to keep the average listeners attention for any period of time, making it an album that will probably only be well received by the bands faithful and few else in the end.