Univerus- Zero

Tracklist: 1. 6 Years 2. My Baby She Don't Call Me 3. She's Not My Girl 4. Morning Blues 5. Do You Know How It Feels? 6. Orison 7. Found Our Home... 8. One 9. Stranger In A Strange Land 10. Eternal Afternoon 11. Gardens Of Stone 12. The Wandering 13. The End

All I can say about this cd is that Douglas Andrew Vawter, the man behind Universus, is a confused and unhappy person. His music is so repetitive that it becomes like an expired sleeping medicine, lulling you into weird and uncomfortable dreams.

The vocals and lyrics are the worst part. I mean, come on Doug, get a thesaurus or something. The rhyming is horrible... down with down, me with me, etc. I guess someone taught this guy to repeat as much as you can. This seems to be the way of Universus. He really could have tried a bit harder to make the lyrics interesting.

But it wouldn't do much good. The vocals are even worse than the lyrics. Monotone and so far off key it is funny, absolutely no harmony, and no emotion.

This album has one thing that saves it from being a total loss. The music is mildly creative and decently influenced. A little bit of jazz, blues, gothic, and rock. But it lacks any hooks. There is no structure. The sound quality is horrible. The lyrics sound like a depressed thirteen year old wrote them.

This album just lacks any semblance of power. I honestly thought this was a joke when I first heard it. It is that bad. And I am so done talking about it.

If you are into bland, dull, uninspired repetitive music... Universus is for you.

Rating: 1/10 - Jeremy Eckhart 2004