Boyd Rice has been the designated driver on more than one trip to hell, but God and Beast marks the first time he brought back a souvenier. These songs revel in their satanic sound; in fact, they seem to exist solely to sound satanic. It's hard to tell in this case whether the usually bleak Rice has taken a turn down Goofy Road. Sadly, that doesn't appear to be the case.

The liner notes briefly mention that man is both a god and a beast, and because of this, he's been at war with himself since the beginning of time. They also say that there exists "a long forgotten place in the soul where god and beast intersect" and "to go to that place is to witness the death of one world and the birth of another... join me." So, I guess God and Beast claims to be the soundtrack to this spiritual journey I'm supposed to have when I listen to the record. Sorry if I don't buy into it.

This disc might be especially interesting for borderline personality types or folks who are interested in spooky experimental stuff. Normally, I'm all over this kind of thing, but Non, after many albums of complete weirdness, have suddenly become a little pretentious for my tastes. Luckily, the band remains an experimental outlet for Rice and whether or not people are interested in the results doesn't necessarily mean it hasn't done something for music. Whether you'll like God and Beast will ultimately be up to you, but I wouldn't attempt a listen unless you've already got some Non in your system.

-Ryan Schreiber