When ETC came out in 2022, I immediately jumped on it because of how much it didn’t sound like anything else out there. “Risky” was the word I used, if I recall correctly, but without risk there is no reward, and for God Alone, the reward was great. County Cork’s native sons blew up into the spotlight, and for good reason. Their dizzying repertoire of high-minded philosophy and genre-blending musical prowess put them firmly on my radar, and I am delighted to be able to review the much-anticipated follow up in The Beep Test.
“We’ve been a band since we were really young, and the genre-bending aspect has come a long way,” muses frontman Jake O’Driscoll. “In the past, it sort of resembled slapping random elements together. It’s more cohesive now.” While this “random slapping” has served the band well in differentiating them from the pack, it is very true that The Beep Test is a much more streamlined and honed version of the math rock/hardcore/indie/electronica/who-even-knows-what-else fusion they have perfected at this point. The songwriting ethos this time aims to capture the feeling of a God Alone live show, an area the band feels quite at home with. “We’re most comfortable when we play live,” says O’Driscoll. “So, we tried to make the album as live-sounding as possible. The dynamics of our live show are definitely present.”
I will attest that this is immediately apparent on listening to The Beep Test. God Alone has never been a band that sounds “over-produced” but on this, their third full-length release, they manage to nail a sound that feels more intimate and personal that a band signed to a major label usually does. This could be because, except for the drums, everything else was recorded at the members’ homes, which afforded them the time and patience it takes to get the perfect sound without someone hovering over you or rushing you into finishing the project.
The Beep Test kicks off with a bang more than a beep, with the title track lurching in on the back of a grinding, off-kilter bassline before the rest of the band jumps in with a thrashy, punky groove that careens headlong into some blessed aggressive territory. It does a great job of setting the tone for the rest of the album, because two things are true about The Beep Test: it is downright heavy when it needs to be, and it also grooves. I feel like the danceability of God Alone’s music has been dialed up, beyond even what it was on ETC. “Pink Himalayan” is a good example of this type of funky, post-punk inspired boogie they have been doing a number on, and if you want further proof, check out the awesome music video that utilizes a tracking shot to emphasize the flash-mob dance that happens in the foreground while God Alone showcases their live energy in the back of the pub. Closer “Yupasaid” also does a great job of blending the two halves of their music, with a four-on-the-floor beat transitioning into a grungy lumber. As far as the heaviness goes, I feel like The Beep Test is also heavier than ETC; if Talking Heads was the biggest influence on ETC, then The Beep Test is definitely giving Refused vibes in spades. Tracks like the hilariously named “Tony Gawk” bring the mathy, Dillinger Escape Plan-esque influences to the forefront, while “Rubber Hands” falls apart at the seams at the end in a crescendo of wailing and droning feedback. If anything, I do find myself missing some of the weirder, more avant-garde and high-falutin moments that made ETC so wacky, but the converse of that is that The Beep Test is sure to be a lot less polarizing. From: https://ninecircles.co/2025/10/10/album-review-god-alone-the-beep-test/
