Tag: Reviews
8
There's something intriguing about Sweden's Mr. Death that makes you want to come back for more even though you're not quite sure if you're that into their new album. Historically, that has been the mark of a damn good recording for me, with case in point being "Contradictions collapse". When Meshuggah released their debut back in '91 I had the same feeling; I wasn't quite sure if I liked it, but I kept coming back for more. Now it's one of my all-time favorite albums. I sincerely doubt that I'll be singing the praises of "Descending through the ashes" in 20 years time, but it definitely has something special for now. It's a combination of that odd sound -- like a mix of the American and Swedish deathgrinders from back in the day -- and a unique songwriting technique that's simple, yet very effective. On every listen I'm wondering if the songwriting is actually any good and I still can't put my finger on it. That it has me returning to it on a regular basis speaks volumes. It's old-school Swedish/American death metal with a production that would make Satan shit himself. Good enough for me!
- John Norby
7
If there's one word that describes Sweden's Maschine Krank it's "odd". On top of that "odd" there's a heady dose of punk-pop with the slightest tinge of metal in places. If you can imagine a mix of Daisy Chainsaw, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, Katzenjammer, Atari Teenage Riot, System Of A Down and Primus you get pretty close to what the Malmö quintet have created in their latest release. That's an eclectic list of bands there, but Maschine Krank nod toward all of them -- and more -- here. It's difficult to honestly say that "Mine fires" is a great album; rather it's an enjoyable album that one only fully appreciates after quite a few listens (although there's an immediate satisfaction to be had on the first go). Where they fall down a little is in their limited use of the elements that really work best; maybe it's from fear of overuse, but if the band has erred on the side of caution they've slipped up this time around. Get dug into those heavy, caustic moments that make "Don't look now" so damn killer and embrace the off-kilter synth moments that give "Sometimes I do good things for you" that unique character. More of that on top of their quirky foundations and there's something big to talk about here. If they jump in with both feet next time rather than simply tread on water they could be on to a serious winner. On a sidenote, "Get yourself an air limit!" is where they have it totally nailed.
- John Norby
1
As much as there seems to be a singing of praises for Oslo's true kvlt black metallers Svarttjern's second album, I'm not enamored by it in the slightest. The production is, without question, a hefty lesson in annihilation-by-metal, but it's completely wasted when the music it's enhancing is nondescript in the big black metal picture. There's nothing exciting here at all; not even the obligatory mid-paced-into-fast-paced-into-mid-paced mid-album track (in this case "I AM the path part II") that normally elicits a "Let's fucking slay!" reaction works here. The riffs are just way too... crap. I'm sorry to have to use the word, but boring just doesn't cut it at this moment in time. Neither Kerry King's long-and-pointy nailband nor Watain's applied-as-if-it-were-just-thrown-on-but-really-it's-contrived-as-fuck corpsepaint can make up for the fact that Svarttjern are a very average black metal band. I've just noticed that there are a lot of hyphens in this review. Fuck, that's how bored I am listening to this album -- I'm actually counting hyphens. I'm -- actually -- counting -- hyphens. We're up to 29 now. Time to fire up "Sworn to the dark" and wash this muck outta my earholes.
- John Norby
9
The poststructural feminists are going to have field day with this one. There's already been so much said on Jenny Hval, former alias Rockettothesky, that it requires some self-reflection of adding more unnecessary internet debris. I'll try to make this short and sweet. First off, "Viscera" -- the first effort released under her own name -- scares the shit outta me. Kicking off with a quirky avant-garde-like recitation, it dropkicks you like a welterweight champion of morbid genius. Heavyweights I'm referring to of course of dark siren goddesses and radical poets: Kate Bush, Siouxsie Sioux, Elisabeth Fraser of Cocteau Twins, Patti Smith, Laura Nyro, etc. It's no wonder Ms. Hval wrote a Masters' thesis on Kate Bush, probably something as bad-ass as Lacanian readings on voice (think: Mladan Dolar's, "A Voice and Nothing More", MIT Press) or phonocentrism. Just as Kate Bush's "Wuthering Heights" was inspired by an Emily Brontë novel, Jenny Hval draws on strong literary influences. It takes special brains to not only extrapolate necessary understanding of one's music on paper, but be a decisive act/performance as well. And she certainly is.
An old music critic once told me you can tell everything about a band by reading their lyrics. Most of the time you do it reluctantly, with one-eye squeezed shut -- especially bands where English isn't their first language. It's painful to ingest the gaping vulnerability of text, so it's often treated it as a discardable or excess entity, sidelined by the "real" stuff. But here the music follows the imagery of the words, pieced together like limbs conjoined and changing; developing within itself, evolving, caving in, and even exploding ("Portrait of the young girl as an artist"). Jenny Hval exhibits beautiful harmonic development ("How gentle") but her songs never get so lost to return to a theme ("Blood flight"). It never so alienates it's listener should you understand it, and patience is rewarded abundantly.
- Ann Sung-an Lee
All About Jazz has two reviews of Håkon Kornstad's new solo album "Symphonies in my head", both very complimentary: http://t.co/8hsX91rh / http://t.co/Or3kWP8C
I'm ashamed to say that I've still not heard this yet, but I have no doubt it's every bit as good as they say.
7
This experimental Norwegian trio have taken a decent stab at the drone genre, generally opting for an askew folk/jazz aesthetic rather than the subsonic metal rumblings that often accompany the style. Its opening title track gives the impression that this could be a contemporary soundtrack to "The wicker man", which is down to the unison of Kongsberg-native Hanne Hukkelberg's eerie vocals and the uneasy nature of the music itself. The second of the recording's two major pieces, "Ear/eye connector", really needs to pull something strong out of the bag and, while it's a great background piece when played at subdued volume, it's something of a disappointment when given one's full attention. It makes a fundamental mistake in the grand scheme of music -- that of the false build up that leads nowhere. For a good deal of its almost 13 minute running time the implementation of drum and sample patterns gives the impression that we're leading into one hell of a driving beat; the pulsating feedback would remain the same but with a beat over it that would just kill. Sadly, it's not the case, which renders the track a good background listener rather than a great piece of sonic genius. It's actually something that could be said of this release as a whole, with "For the working class" seeming like a pointless entry and closer "Star spangled pillow" failing to intrigue on a concentrated listen. If it's a backgrounder you're after, though, this will do the trick. Definitely!
- John Norby
8
The talent present on Snævar Njáll Albertsson's debut full-length is undeniable. In the same creative neighborhood as the criminally underappreciated Alcoholic Faith Mission, Albertsson, an Icelander now living in Denmark, crafts lush pop soundscapes awash with his cleverly worded, sharp observations of contemporary life. The album is a distinct pleasure, perhaps the best of its kind to come out this year, but as with every album that is deemed "clever," Albertsson's "Mount Modern" has the tendency to occasionally be too clever for its own good: the instrumentation occasionally feeling a little too cute, the rich arrangements leaving the shadowy side of the street in order to frolic in the sun, and the lyrics can, with repeated listening, lose some of their initial charm. That said, I'll take an album that is sporadically too smart, too layered, too happy, and too charming over the limp, anemic indie pop offerings that get hyped every other week. And when Dad Rocks! gets it right, he really gets it right -- like you want to make a mixtape for a friend with tracks off "Mount Modern" right. "Take care", one of the many highlights, balances itself perfectly between detached cynicism and intimate despair, both in its musical and lyrical approach: "And they watch the military fireworks and talk about traveling light, and there's a global spread of wasted lives which we'll later take care of with knives." "Mount Modern" is a soundtrack for those who find beauty in the winds tearing the last of the autumn leaves from the trees, who appreciate the descent into winter because they are hopeful for the spring.
- Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson
Invisible Oranges gives positive marks to Swedish horror/prog/soundtrack act Anima Morte: http://www.invisibleoranges.com/2011/11/anima-morte-the-nightmare-becomes-reality/
8
So, how does "Apan" sound, exactly? Like a mid-fi John Carpenter soundtrack with the odd bit of SunnO))) thrown in. There's not much else to be said, really. It's not as good as either, but it's a damn fine marriage that works and that holds attention for the duration of the album. This is Stockholm-based Erik Enocksson's third foray into the world of soundtracks, this time for the 2009 flick "Apan", directed by Jesper Ganslandt and, despite the fact that it's a contemporary film, the music is unashamedly ensconced in the low-to-mid budget horror of the '70s and '80s. Its adherence to that aesthetic ensures that it is both eerie and unsettling, much like Carpenter's early works and quite unlike Erik's previous efforts. There's something quite odd about this, too, which is as much down to the production as the composition. Original? No. Entertaining? Absolutely.
- John Norby
Dusted reviews Susanna Walløumrod's new album "Jeg vil hjem til menneskene", a tribute to Norwegian poet Gunvor Hofmo: http://dustedmagazine.com/reviews/6821
PopMatters is less impressed than most when it comes to Korallreven's debut full-length: http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/150870-korallreven-an-album-by-korallreven/
9
Holy shit!! Even though it was released back in January, this is surprise of the year to these ears, right from the second it kicks off with its off-kilter intro, through its meandering journey across black metal's multifarious hatescape and into the epic dying seconds of "Universal miscreant". Musically, it's a damn technical affair, never resting for a second and constantly shifting tempo and style for its entirety. It is expertly crafted from start to finish, benefitting from a raw-yet-bludgeoning production that's clear enough to allow every nuance its fifteen minutes of fame while simultaneously offering an authentic, dirty old-school feel. If there's one gripe, it's that the IBM-blast on "Flagrum" doesn't -- at any point -- explode into a proper drum blast over the same riff that gets the electro-treatment. With that hefty production it would rip some serious face! You kind of expect it, but it never happens. And that really sucks! It's a minor point, though, given that "Terra ruina" does nothing but please otherwise. That there's passion evident on this album is quite an understatement. There's not a filler to be had, and no skull has been left unsmashed in the Umeå trio's quest for global oblivion. Man, oh fucking man! This is music to slay by!
- John Norby
Årabrot is one of the guests for this week's "Listed" feature at Dusted: http://dustedmagazine.com/features/1003
Also posted over there today, a review of Finnish electronic artist Keränen's new album "Moon over Torrelorca": http://dustedmagazine.com/reviews/6757
2
One huge pet peeve I've had for years is bad band fonts. You'd think we've passed the era when people realised that distorted grunge fonts, or using the airbrush on photoshop to fuck up your logo looks god-fucking-awful. To top it off, bands pair it with a pixelated rock icon, skulls or flames or whatnot. Done in the right way, it's not bad, but more often then not, it reveals a band's minimal sense of creativity -- like they're just as maladjusted as the next office cretin when it comes to determining a "rock-look". Now that I've got that outta my system, onto the next order of business: what the fuck is wrong with this band's name? If they're attempting to use the word, "chilli" to suggest "hot, fiery, red" or whatever stereotypical rock-associated adjectives that went through their beer-fizzled brains, coupled with "hounds" it makes absolutely no sense. They might as well be thinking "Chillidogs".
I envision only two scenarios in which I'd affirm this band; a) if I were sitting in some backyard blues bar in the middle of Memphis -- wait-a-minnit, I forget that'd be demographically impossible seeing as these guys sing as white as turkeys -- ok, ok so in the middle of bumfuck Texas, and I was really, REALLY drunk on Bourbon and on a date with a super hot cowboy. If Chillihounds were the house band, I probably wouldn't mind. The second would be if Kenny Powers were their frontman, and they dressed like Hedwig and the Angry Inch.
Unfortunately there's zero irony and zero invention. It's winter up in those northern parts, and picturing a surplus of dudes jamming and "kicking ass" kinda makes me wanna cry. It's as if they've lifted as many AC/DC, Kiss or Thin Lizzy riffs as possible and plastered it with your typical slick-back testosterone-fueled Swedishness. Even their song titles bleed of unoriginality. As much as I hate standing in the way of good ol' fashioned fun and laudable classic rock-throwbacks (AC/DC cover band Big Balls for example, rules) -- their sound emanates of beer bongs, ordering cowboy hats on eBay and fucking young girls that've stepped outta Paradise Hotel. Just as I think I might tip over in the way of nodding to a song, tracks like, "Back in the game" make me wallow in misery. I read somewhere that they're attempting to be "classic rock for a new generation." Please. It's harry as hell.
- Ann Sung-an Lee
Mr. Death
Maschine Krank
Svarttjern
Jenny Hval
Huntsville
Dad Rocks!
Erik Enocksson
Ghamorean
Chillihounds
