Tag: Reviews
2
This is the debut album by the Swedish crew and it must be said from the offset that there's a distinct blandness about it that's not only down to the production, but also because of a terrible attempt at emulating past success. Terrortory's thing seems to be to write tunes in the styles of a heap of already-revered bands, stick them all together, and hope for a winning formula. In Flames, The Haunted, Opeth, Sentenced and a shitload of others that are familiar but that I can't quite put my finger on are referenced here, none of which are mimicked to the point where you could say the material that Terrortory has written is better. There's also a tiny bit of old school Metallica to be found on some of the melodic parts and, while those are actually okay, this album as a whole is a very uninspiring -- indeed, a very boring -- listen. The production does get part of the blame despite the fact that everything is clear and bright, it's just that there's a lack of any punch whatsoever, even in the album's better moments. It's quite possible that when faced with material as dull and repetitive as this producer Henrik Wiklund simply lost the will to live. I know I did.
- John Norby
6
The most succinct way of describing Sweden's Mordant is to say that it's like a 3-way blend of Watain, Nifelheim and Carpathian Forest with a hint of the rhythm guitar sound from "Slowly we rot" and miles of melody in the mix. If that sounds like it might float your boat, then I would suggest you buy this right away. If, like me, you find the aforementioned bands quite patchy in their output then I would be wary of parting with your hard-earned for this. There are some really killer moments on "Black evil master", with all of "Council of evil" as a prime example, but the flipside of that is that a lot of the material sounds the same, despite the wealth of riffage on offer. There are also some subpar moments on the album, such as "Retaliation of the dark" which -- if you were to replace Bitchfire's (yes, I know!) vocals with John Tardy's -- would sound like a bonus track on Obituary's "Back from the dead" stinker. Despite its initial promise and many cool moments "Black evil master" is a pretty average album that doesn't have a hope in hell of standing the test of time.
- John Norby
7
"The black sun transmissions". It's a pretty typical dark ambient / drone album title, isn't it? Thankfully, this latest [and last, apparently -ed.] full length by Swede Dag Rosenqvist isn't pretty typical at all, building on the promise of his previous efforts which, to these ears at least, fell well short of the originality mark. This is five tracks of uneasy instrumentalism channelled through the psyche of someone who knows how to instil a subconscious fear into the listener. From its disturbing, psychological mind mess opening, it waxes and wanes and meanders through a variety of eerie soundscapes and emotions to arrive at a passage of heartbreaking beauty in closing track "White birds". The only way to listen to this and experience its full effect is through a good set of headphones. Any other way is sacrilege. Rosenqvist really has hit the nail on the head this time around.
- John Norby
8
I'm just going to go ahead and say it...Kevin Barnes. From the light touches of soul and funk, to the use of found sound, to bandleader André Brorsson's wobbly croon, the of Montreal leadman's DNA is all over Stars in Coma's fifth album, "Midnight puzzle". Not that there's anything wrong with that.
The Malmo, Sweden-based quartet creates a dazzling cloud of sound that deftly skirts baccalaurean excess -- even as synths, guitars, dulcimers, choirs and strings are piled sky-high. Ideas as well are stockpiled with a care that almost borderlines on fetishism. The album contains a career's worth of evolution all silly-stringed together -- songs seemingly traveling from point A to B via point D. Or, as is the case of opening track "And so", via point X -- its jaunty, folk pop transforming into a nu-disco jam before folding in on itself in a radio-influenced haze.
For a lesser band, this more-is-more technique might indicate hiding behind sound rather than songwriting. However, Brorsson exonerates himself nicely on the title track -- a 1970s torch song ballad featuring his expelled angst over a single piano and whistled refrain. Hard to believe this is the same guy who hit the dance floor on previous tune, the slick new wave jam "Unique emotion". But therein lies the power of Stars in Coma: over the course of "Midnight puzzle", they somehow manage to be all things to most listeners...and they do so brilliantly.
- Laura Studarus
Simian Ghost has a very nice writeup by BBC Music on the UK release of the new album "Youth": http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/gnd3
Goth/industrial site I Die You Die has a good evaluation of the new Agent Side Grinder album "Hardware", one of my own favorite new releases of 2012: http://www.idieyoudie.com/2012/02/agent-side-grinder-hardware/
8
It's generally a prerequisite of sludgy doom metal that intros and track lead-ins run for inhuman amounts of time and Finland's Fleshpress are no exception. We're over half way through the 11-minute opener, "Glass trails", before there's any hint of something solid starting, with the initial six and a half minutes sounding off like an ethereal soundtrack to one of the Wallander movies. The track then plods along in simplistic Tool-esque mode before hitting its stride and finally breaking into a killer mid-paced fist-pounder resplendent with vocals touching on a mix of The Secret and Zao. "Copper eye" kicks off with more of a straightforward dirty black metal outlook, although the sludge base is prevalent throughout, while closer, "Oblivion persistent" adopts the sludge penchant for dragging the hell out of a tune to the point that it seems like it'll never end. It's crafted so well and with such menace, though, that it's captivating -- and devastating -- from start to finish. The few moments that drag or don't seem too inspired on this take little from the remainder of the recording. Good stuff indeed!
- John Norby
8
Burning Hearts' second full-length "Extinctions" is a treat. Delving into description disguised as heavy-handed metaphor would be a disservice to such a carefully crafted, thoughtful album, so I'll simple start with a hearty "wow." (It's worth noting the decision to forgo poetics was made after several spins marked by hand flailing and randomly squealed superlatives)
Yeah. It's good.
Other than injecting a note of mystery to their otherwise light-as-air pop confections -- perfected with the debut, "Aboa sleeping" -- very little has changed since the last time we met the Finnish quintet. Not that anything needed altering. The band has created another charming outing that leans just as much on French pop as Scandinavian melancholy, its nine tracks (including "The swallows" and "Into the wilderness" which first hit ears with last year's excellent "Into the wilderness" EP) splitting the difference between wistful refrains and modern synths. The album benefits heartily from vocalist Jessika Rapo's latter-day Nico delivery, but nowhere does it hit such heights as on "Love and dissonance", the soaring line, "Beautiful, beautiful sing me a song the way you used to do," rendered downright beatic in her melodic whisper. On "The best" her languid call hopscotches over the band's near near-folk instrumentation, complete with steel drum backing. But perhaps most surprising is "The swallows", where their formula of gentle instrumentation is turned on its head in favor of 1980s synths, with Rappo as a slow-motion dancing queen. Sure, their music is still sweet, but "Extinctions" -- in all its subtle variations -- only servers to demonstrate that Burning Hearts should be considered pop heavy weights.
- Laura Studarus
Pitchfork reviews Loops of Your Heart, the new alias of The Field's Axel Willner: http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/16264-and-never-ending-nights/
8
This dirty ol' bastard has been lying around for nearly 20 years and has only seen the light of day because the band members scoured today's underground for old cassette copies good enough for an official release. What we have, therefore, is a true retro album; a step back in time with a new 1993 album. A very definite progression can be heard between this and the previous Disgrace album of the time, debut "Grey misery", although elements from that can be heard as well. The foundation for "Vol. 2" lies in the realm of early Black Sabbath and Danzig, both of whom were firm favorites of Disgrace back in the early '90s. There's obviously a bit of a stoner vibe on this, then, making it sound something like Sabbath with heavier vocals -- a goal that the band had in mind when writing the album. The production could obviously be better, but given the source material they've done a damn fine job. Besides, the harsh nature of the recording adds a distinctive character to it; you almost feel like you're back in 1993. I hate the term, but this could well have been the first death 'n roll album out there.
- John Norby
8
One man army Jon Ekström is the sole creator of the material on here, having succeeded in constructing an album that flies in the face of classification. The songs touch on a variety of genres within the metal spectrum and are cemented together with an industrial punk mindset that allows "Livet är en dödsorsak" to progress with an authentic fluidity not often found on releases displaying so many influences. If there's one uniting factor on the album, it's the raw sound that Ekström has gone for. It's a sound at odds with the super-shiny productions usually found on albums that make use of such off-kilter material and also one that is more akin to the crust and sludge genres than any sort of math-metally algorithms. "Livet är en dödsorsak" takes quite a few spins before it beds in, but, given that chance, it's a refreshing -- if quite dirty -- collection of songs that don't give the slightest toss about convention.
- John Norby
4
Sometimes a band or song or album that you haven't listened to in aeons will pop into your head and spark you to give it a casual listen. Whatever the reason, be it a yearning for an adrenaline injection or a desire to experience a distant, heartfelt memory, the uniting factor that draws us to do this is a love -- or even a passing fondness -- for the music in question. Regardless of the genre, from the most minimalistic ambient music to the most complex extreme metal, the music must have that certain something that inspires us and compels us to listen every once in a while. The thing about this third album by the Norwegian "dronejazz" trio is that there's not much on it that would make the average Joe -- jazz-inclined or otherwise -- decide to give the thing a spin on a whim. It's often melancholic in the way that television soundtracks like to portray sadness or hurt and the occasions where the jazz elements come into play are reminiscent of the type of seedy lounge bar music that would usually play over a noir actor's closing monologue. We could go on forever about layers and textures and guest contributions on "Pressure" and, yes, there seems to have been a lot of thought put into creating it, but at the end of the day there's nothing on this almost average album that makes me want to come back and listen ever again.
- John Norby
Pitchfork wisely approves of Rising's new album "To solemn ash": http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/16214-to-solemn-ash/
As you know, I'm a long-time supporter of the band and am stoked to see them getting some well-deserved international attention. Buy the LP -- I just got my own copy this week and it's a stellar package at a totally decent price.
Terrortory
Mordant
Jasper TX
Stars In Coma
Fleshpress
Burning Hearts
Disgrace
Dödsvarg
Splashgirl
