GROUPOEM – Dirt Church

Comprised of a 9 track album originally recorded in 1987 and 9 fresh tracks cut over the past several years, Dirt Church is an 18 track behemoth that represents Groupoem’s influences and new directions, simultaneously.

Coming off a 25+ year hiatus, Groupoem’s reunion only happened when the original members found themselves living, by accident, in the same city (Toronto). These days, that’s as good a reason as any for a reunion.

After listening through Dirt Church, one has to ask the obvious question: Why didn’t they just release two albums? While the older material tends to have shorter running times, those wouldn’t be out of place on a Punk influenced release. It would still be a solid 9 track album. Maybe throw in a transition track or spoken word piece for an easy, even 10. Speaking of spoken word, that’s what vocalist Mr. Science’s style borders on. Evenly measured parts of Rock, Punk, Psychedelic, and beat poetry form the overall style. Even after a few joints, 18 tracks can get tedious. Aside from Dirt Church‘s overall length, the two halves of the album have a noticeable stylistic difference. Credit goes to mixing engineer Tim Crich, who somehow managed to minimize the production differences between recording sessions spaced 25 years apart.

Groupoem has announced that work is already beginning on the follow-up release to Dirt Church, although, if they take another hiatus, the band may die of old age before that album comes to fruition.

Dirt Church will be enjoyed by the more laid back fans of acts like The Grateful Dead, Frank Zappa, and Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen. Put this on and just chill out man.