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Modest Midget: Crysis

Melodic Rock

2.5/5.0

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Multi-Polar Music
Words: Craig Hartranft  Added: 24.09.2014

Modest Midget is essentially Lonny Ziblat, composer, multi-instrumentalist, and vocalist of the band. Excepting an odd song here and there, Ziblat composed all the music and wrote all the lyrics for this third album Crysis. By the way, he's not a midget.

Modest Midget: smile for the camera.

His music is somewhat eccentric. But it's probably best to drop this into the broad category of melodic rock with some avant garde nuances and pop sensibility. That, and circus music. The Modest Midget didn't endear himself to me with the first two songs, The Grand Gate Opening and A Centurion's Itchy Belly, which sounded like something between circus and carnival music. My mind kept seeing clowns walking awkwardly, monkeys riding bicycles, followed by some dog and pony trick, with more clowns. Creepy. The weirdness returns in Now That We're Here with more quirky segues. And then they turn Roy Orbison's Oh, Pretty Woman into a Ringling Brothers, Barnum, & Bailey show tune. Once more to the well with Flight of the Cockroach, Ziblat's carnival twist on the Flight of the Bumblebee? This is getting old, and fast.

Against these songs, there's some quiet numbers, like Periscope Down and Gone Is, which reminds of something from Southern California floating from your AM radio in the late Sixties. The songs are quaint but largely flat. Ziblat then tries to take the same formula and lengthen it with Crisis (Awake of the Sheep). Excepting some minor briskness and levity in the latter third, this song only makes you want to reach for a shot of your favorite 5-Hour Energy drink. The best part of the album may be the last song because you know the album will soon be over. I'm not saying that Ziblat and Modest Midget make bad music, but that I simply and quickly tired of the album; that is, after the clown with sad face riding on the tiny tricycle went by one too many times in my mind. I won't be listening to this album again any time soon.

Modest Midget - Birth (Official video)

Note: All Amazon advertising in this review first benefits the artist, then Craig Hartranft also receives a residual. Click, and thanks for your support.

Drop Modest Midget's music into the broad category of melodic rock with some avant garde nuances and pop sensibility. That, and circus music. Creepy.

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Three years have passed since Sweden's Cruzh dropped their second long-player, Tropical Thunder, also introducing their new singer, Alex Waghorn. Now the band returns with The Jungle Revolution ... [ Read More ]