So here we are again with one of those collective reviews, this time I'll go through some physical promos I've received during the last weeks months. Admittedly I'm still not sure what exactly to make of some of these, so for comfort reasons I'll just start with the one I'm sure I'll be revisiting the most of this bunch:
LARS FREDRIK FRØISLE - Fire Fortellinger (2023)
I don't own any album of the Swedish Retro Prog band Wobbler, but over the years I have heard the odd song here and there and always found it enjoyable. So I already had at least a little some basic expectation when I saw this debut solo album of their keyboard player, on which Lars Fredrik Frøilse plays tons of analogue keys and drums, also sings and is only aided by Nikolai Hængsle of Elephant9 on bass. Yes, there's no guitar and I had to read it to notice it, because the sound of all those organs, Moogs, Rickenbackers and whatnot is so rich that you simply don't even get the idea that the six strings might be absent.
The music is story-telling epic 1970's Prog, very dynamic, sometimes heavy, sometimes light-hearted, always very authentic. (Don't ask me about the story though, because the lyrics are in Swedish.) The musicianship obviously is great, but never overpowers the songwriting. This is definitely not an over-planned record, it even contains improvised bits.
All in all "Fire Fortellinger" is one of those album. which could be a blueprint of its particular stylistic niche. And Yes, even though there's a gentle gigantic amount of this kind of classic Prog out there, it still sounds fresh.
Can I even find anything bad to say about this album? Why is the second song "Et Sted Under Himmelhvelvet" not longer, maybe? Lars isn't the greatest singer in the world? But does this music require it? No, seriously, I see nothing which desperately needs to be improved here. This is great stuff!
The music is story-telling epic 1970's Prog, very dynamic, sometimes heavy, sometimes light-hearted, always very authentic. (Don't ask me about the story though, because the lyrics are in Swedish.) The musicianship obviously is great, but never overpowers the songwriting. This is definitely not an over-planned record, it even contains improvised bits.
All in all "Fire Fortellinger" is one of those album. which could be a blueprint of its particular stylistic niche. And Yes, even though there's a gentle gigantic amount of this kind of classic Prog out there, it still sounds fresh.
Can I even find anything bad to say about this album? Why is the second song "Et Sted Under Himmelhvelvet" not longer, maybe? Lars isn't the greatest singer in the world? But does this music require it? No, seriously, I see nothing which desperately needs to be improved here. This is great stuff!
LUMSK - Fremmede Toner (2023)
Now let's add guitars, switch the Rock part to modern sounding Metal and make the rest a lot more folksy - and we're getting to closer to Frøisle's Norwegian neighbours Lumsk.
Musically this sounds a lot like the Folk / Metal / Prog fusion tracks of Ayreon, and even the female singer here reminds me a lot of the regular Arjen Lucassen collaborator Anneke van Giersbergen.
Conceptually their comeback album after sixteen years presents six poems of classic European and North-American writers as translated by Norwegian author André Bjerke and then follows them up with another six songs based on the English and German original words.
Those song pairs aren't just the same tracks with different lyrics, yet rather independent compositions with some similarities here and there. But even though there are a lot of instruments at play and the change of female and male vocals also brings some variety, this album as a whole with its one-hour running time is just too much for me. While this is all done very well and I can honestly enjoy most of Lumsk's songs on their own, I just find myself saturated with these melodies and the aesthetics of it all after a couple of tracks. So I don't think I've ever continuously listened to the whole album in one session. Good, but surely just not a hundred percent for me.
Musically this sounds a lot like the Folk / Metal / Prog fusion tracks of Ayreon, and even the female singer here reminds me a lot of the regular Arjen Lucassen collaborator Anneke van Giersbergen.
Conceptually their comeback album after sixteen years presents six poems of classic European and North-American writers as translated by Norwegian author André Bjerke and then follows them up with another six songs based on the English and German original words.
Those song pairs aren't just the same tracks with different lyrics, yet rather independent compositions with some similarities here and there. But even though there are a lot of instruments at play and the change of female and male vocals also brings some variety, this album as a whole with its one-hour running time is just too much for me. While this is all done very well and I can honestly enjoy most of Lumsk's songs on their own, I just find myself saturated with these melodies and the aesthetics of it all after a couple of tracks. So I don't think I've ever continuously listened to the whole album in one session. Good, but surely just not a hundred percent for me.
LE MUR - Keep Your Fear Away From Me (2023)
Ok, sorry that I have to say this, but it may seem a little risky to use the word art too often in connection with this cover uhm...artwork, but we're continiuing with a German Art Rock band now.
Pinkfloydisms paired with Trip Hop influences, Krautrock, Blues, smoothjazzy saxophone jams, Prog, even some Metal... it's quite an interesting melange which Le Mur brings to the table, creating a very distinct sound, which in the best passages of "Keep Your Fear Away From Me" certainly puts you onto an exciting trip.
Unfortunately the quality of this voyage at times is subject to strong fluctuations. It's mostly the thick tschörmänn accent of the occasional vocals and the dominance of the drums in the mix combined with some shaky uptempo performances which creates very demoish moments that really throw me off the spaceship.
If Le Mur had concentrated more on their strengths in the slower atmospheric stuff, maybe made this an EP consisting only of more carefully produced versions of both the long opener and closing track of the album, this could have been a remarkable work only for the right reasons. Yet how it is a lot of the great potential is sadly floating in the soundless void of space.
Pinkfloydisms paired with Trip Hop influences, Krautrock, Blues, smoothjazzy saxophone jams, Prog, even some Metal... it's quite an interesting melange which Le Mur brings to the table, creating a very distinct sound, which in the best passages of "Keep Your Fear Away From Me" certainly puts you onto an exciting trip.
Unfortunately the quality of this voyage at times is subject to strong fluctuations. It's mostly the thick tschörmänn accent of the occasional vocals and the dominance of the drums in the mix combined with some shaky uptempo performances which creates very demoish moments that really throw me off the spaceship.
If Le Mur had concentrated more on their strengths in the slower atmospheric stuff, maybe made this an EP consisting only of more carefully produced versions of both the long opener and closing track of the album, this could have been a remarkable work only for the right reasons. Yet how it is a lot of the great potential is sadly floating in the soundless void of space.
NOCTURNAL BREED - Carry The Beast (2023)
I know, this doesn't belong here. We had three band starting with L and now these dudes. Missed the chance for some clever alliteration wordplay in the title of the post. And musically this looks like we're turning to another gear too, right? Well at least this is another album which I find a little too long to listen to in one sitting, especially with the three CD bonus tracks, which lift it over the seventy-minutes mark.
So appearantly Saxon and Cirith Ungol had a demon baby in the Nineties, and up until now I was completely oblivious of its existence. What reads like a recipe for either brilliance or ridiculousness in case of Nocturnal Breed's new album "Carry The Beast" actually absolutely and unashamedly is both. Everything about this band is an excercise in Heavy Metal hyperbole. Song titles like "Thrash Metal Hate Saw (The Last Act Of Terror)", "Raise The Flag...And The Hordes Will Follow", "Lady Vampire", "Blitzhammer" and of course fucking "Knights Of Denim" couldn't speak a clearer language of what you're about to get here.
Each track is a bloodbath in clichés, always slightly too long, slightly too over the top. The same goes for the intros and interludes of these Thrash'n'Roll bangers. It's corny, it's fun and you're allowed to laugh about it. But then you must also respect how great this similarly weird and straight-forward sick shit works.
And of course I won't forgot to mention that vocalist, who seemingly really digs the aforementioned Cirith Ungol and comes awefully close to the extreme organ of Tim Baker. That element alone makes the whole length of this record demanding and exhausting.
Yeah, this album truly is a beast. Raise your fist for the sensorial Blackened Thrash overkill!
So appearantly Saxon and Cirith Ungol had a demon baby in the Nineties, and up until now I was completely oblivious of its existence. What reads like a recipe for either brilliance or ridiculousness in case of Nocturnal Breed's new album "Carry The Beast" actually absolutely and unashamedly is both. Everything about this band is an excercise in Heavy Metal hyperbole. Song titles like "Thrash Metal Hate Saw (The Last Act Of Terror)", "Raise The Flag...And The Hordes Will Follow", "Lady Vampire", "Blitzhammer" and of course fucking "Knights Of Denim" couldn't speak a clearer language of what you're about to get here.
Each track is a bloodbath in clichés, always slightly too long, slightly too over the top. The same goes for the intros and interludes of these Thrash'n'Roll bangers. It's corny, it's fun and you're allowed to laugh about it. But then you must also respect how great this similarly weird and straight-forward sick shit works.
And of course I won't forgot to mention that vocalist, who seemingly really digs the aforementioned Cirith Ungol and comes awefully close to the extreme organ of Tim Baker. That element alone makes the whole length of this record demanding and exhausting.
Yeah, this album truly is a beast. Raise your fist for the sensorial Blackened Thrash overkill!
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