Atrox - Orgasm (2003)

Now we are back to the beginning of the alphabet and it is time to unveil another cd that was gifted me by my brother. This is, quite possibly, the first time I have ever listened, really listened, to this album - which I have owned for quite some time!

Norwegian band Atrox are classified as "Avante-garde". This is defined as "innovative and experiemental" - in other words, a wee bit weird. They formed in 1988, using the name Suffocation, but changed that when they realised there were other bands with the same name.  In the beginning they were death metal, but by this album (their 4th) they had inserted enough other interesting elements to give them the above classification.

Now, how to describe the album? Well, it is a cardboard digipack, with booklet inserted into a pocket. The cover is a darkly surreal piece of art painted by the vocalist herself, Monika Edvardsen. Somewhat Bosch-esque, it depicts numerous deformed and distorted characters assembled in rows and staring at the viewer - some are cute, others downright creepy - a round-headed, three-eyed pyjama clad child clutches a red toy rabbit; teo horse-headed men bear a pole, from which hangs two pairs of legs, connected at the waist; little imps and goblins cavort in surreal and grotesque glory. It is all rather beautiful. On the back of the case are depicted various caricatures of the band - Afrox, Hatrox, Ratrox, Flatrox, Batrox, Fatrox, whilst a little lizard in spectacles points out his favourite. Crazy, crazy stuff! Inside the booklet, the lyrics are printed in a scrawled font only slightly darker than the background, making them downright undecipherable.

We rage into the steam-rolling, heavy dealing that is "Methods of Survival" with its loud, determined bass and husky, knife-edged vocals, which soar into a softer swoop for the chorus.  Their sound has been described as similar to Meshuggah, a band that I am not familar with. About halfway through it shifts from the immense thunderous wall of power into something distinctly progressive in sound, with screeching vocals and a rhythm that reminds me rather of Ritual, but with a distinctly heavier backing.

"Flesh City" starts similarly heavy, with repetitive thrash and female and male vocals twisting and twining around each other. The rhythms jerk and tug, the drum and bass fading so the guitar can take over, then charging back in. Faster, faster. Then suddenly, almost a jazz-vibe as Monika's husky vocals come in. Chugging, charging rhythms, distortion. The illustration accompanying the lyrics to this piece are frankly somewhat disturbing - although I do like the witch-pig-on-a-broomstick (wearing a gas mask).

Twiddly rhythms, over hand-clap drumming and Monika's low vocals usher on a "Heartquake" which contains lyrics about "little death". I'm not really much good at any genre excepting metal, but I suspect this may have some lounge/jazz sound to it. Or potentially cabaret. I can almost imagine her lying on a piano, kicking her feet in the air and tracing shapes in the air with a feather or some other sort of long and slender device.

"How long to experience a heartquake, but oh so afraid it will end with a heartbreak..."

We are whipped and whirled into the maelstrom of "Burning Bridges", the lyrics of which (for some reason) feature first in the booklet. Raw-edged, filled with tension and drama. Slower, gentler moments interplay with the aggressive; tidy guitar rhythms intercepting the raucous. Then into tiddly, organic rhythms of creeping deceit and lurking imps in the shadows, laughing. Theatrical. A swarm of hornets.

Dramatic, slow; "This Vigil" brings with it an air of the uncanny. Chugging rhythms, interspersed with the croon of the synthesizers (or the moog?) which add an otherworldly, demented air to the wailing vocals. Dirge like bass-line, banshee howls.

Sampling and a springy rhythm usher us into "Tentacles". Organic-sounding guitars, dropping into heavier depths and soaring with the spectral voice of the synthesizer. Tangled and demented. Grabbing, twisting turmoil. Disconcerting, disjointed, sampling and a faintly eerie sense.

"Second Hand Traumas" begins with a more mainstream approach, fast, competent guitar fingering and a mighty bass-line. Vocals with a hint of the shrill. Then more into the complicated, switching tempo and chaotica controlled.

Solid, determined, "Pre-Sense" sets Monika's voice rising into a shrill determination above a more classically metal sound. Going into twiddliness, finding a pattern, then abruptly stopping, jerking rhythms, disconcerting. She really does reach some surprising pitches. Towards the end we draw to a conclusion. Or not. Stop... start... stop... pause... start. The eerie and disjointed nature is messing with me, and I'm not sure I can listen to it through to its eventual conclusion.

Like Swedish band Ritual, there is something about the abrupt jerkiness of the rhythms and the switching tempos that makes me feel ever-so-slightly queasy, like it is messing a little with my inner ear equilibrium.

Strange and beautiful, like the art, the playful with a darker edge, demented and quirky. I can see why my brother decided to give me this. It comes to me in tones of sepia, with shadows and darting light and little creatures that lurk in the shadows and reach out to pluck at your senses with spider-like fingers.

Yes, definitely "Avantgarde" is the best definition.

Rating = 7.5/10

Ritual - The Hemulic Voluntary Band (2007)

What can one say about Ritual? They are a not very well known band from Sweden who amalgamate folk and rock with a touch of progressive. They have released very few albums, and although they have a website, they do not appear to be updating it regularly.

I think if I were to give their music a sound, I would call it "Goblin rock".

What drew me first to this album was the cover - which features some rather weird little critters playing instruments. Several songs are based on the moomin series by Tove Jansson. The cover is quirky - and right up my alley given that I love things a wee bit weird and whimsical. The booklet is a delight - from the charming cover to the interior illustrations - which include the lyrics - including one in the form of a tale (based on one of Jansson's picture books) and the whole thing is designed to look like a book.

In style, their music is very quirky and kind of "organic". The sounds are slightly disharmonious, a little higher in pitch than you regularly get, with quirky little rhythms and reels. Like the dart of insects. It is very, very, easy to imagine the band to be these relatively formless, long muzzled beings.

I cannot remember when I bought this album, but I cannot help but feel that it inspired the gnome species in my novel "A Midsummer Knight's Quest". Heh, fancy that.

Instruments listed include: clavinet, harmonium, grand piano, rhodes, irish bouzoki, hammer dulcimer, recorders, whistles, nyckelharpa - I don't even know what half of these are!

The first track is the "Hermulic Voluntary Band" with its quirky, organic rhythms and a small dose of additional chaos. Erratic beats and little trills make it feel slightly discordant.

"In the Wild" is a slightly more refined number. The vocals are a bit smoother and the music somewhat restrained, although still prone to darting off into unexpected little rhythms. It fades into some rather sweet piano and then the rather discordant guitarish instrument takes over like a darting, swarming, biting bee.

A somewhat melancholic and rather quirky ballad, we have "Late in November" - which has recorders. This is from Snufkin's perspective.  Snufkin strikes me as rather an introspective nomad, who cherishes walking in the late autumn.

The is a sense of the ominous in "The Groke" as she stomps on in in a rhythmic march, bringing the winter and death with her. Her presense is ominous, and the music portends to this, but there is also an edge there - perhaps she is not so much evil and nasty, as just misunderstood?

"Waiting By the Bridge" is a poppy, lively little number. It is about Moomintroll waiting for his friend to come and take him away on a grand adventure. It is filled with cheer and hope.

Now we have the final track - and it is so epic it is longer than the other songs put together, clocking in at a massive 28 minutes. "A Dangerous Journey" opens with a cheerful rhythm and begins the tale of a young girl called Susanna, who seeks adventure.

"Life was so humdrum and always the same."

That is, she sets down her glasses and has them stolen - and replaced with another pair - a pair that change the way she sees the world (and grows her cat into a monster-cat). Here the tone changes, taking on an ominous edge, as the cat races away into the forest. She follows, and finds a swamp filled with ominous creatures and then a barren sea shore. Where can cat be? Things turn strange as she comes upon a peculiar pair. Things turn more sinster as, nearby, a volcano erupts.Whilst the lyrics are quite ominous, the nature of the music still makes it all sound very upbeat and exciting. Rather a contrast.There is a brief bit of dramatic tension coming towards the end of the track as they are pursued by a monster. But luckily a balloon swoops down and snatches them away to a pleasant valley where they have a picnic.

Oh, and the cat comes back.

For originality and quirkiness of sound, Ritual would easily rate a 10/10. Alas, for all their charm and whimsy, the music is just ever so slightly discordent and can be irritating if played too loudly or too many times. So I'm going to have to give it a 7/10.

Diablo Swing Orchaestra - Pandora's Pinata (2012)

Thank you to my brother for this delightful CD. It is truly a gorgeous little package and definitely quirky and weird - the kind of music I love (along with Heavy Metal, that is). This is going to be a hard album to categorise and will be a fun one to review. No two tracks are alike!

The Diablo Swing Orchaestra are a Swedish Octet. According to wikipedia (and their website) - Ancestors of their band performed in historic Sweden in defiance of the ruling religious beliefs of the time, forcing them to go into hiding. They would put on clandestine performances to the peasants and eventually had a bounty put on their heads and decided to put on a spectacular final show before being matyred by the church.

The packaging is beautiful - it's a digipack, which always look neat but never fit in my CD rack, and thus must languish in an unsteady pile beside it, on the coffee table. However, instead of being a flimsy cardboard affair, this is a solid little hardback book, with pages and all. The cover is whimsical and colourful, reminiscent of childhood and innocence - two children in a forest - a pinata, from which a snake has emerged, seizing the stick from the girl's hand. The inside is filled with psychadelic treats of dice and candy, the font playful and bright.

Truly a delight.

The music is similarly playfully eclectic, with the musical styles switching and the rhythms changing and evoking a wild and crazy carnival feeling.

The album opens with "Voodoo Mon Amour" with its trumpets and chugging bass. Swing or jazz? I'm not really up with my non-metal classifications. Anyhow, the vocals match, this is crazy stuff. Crazy but awesome. The lyrics are equally crazed:

"...we reek as mammals do..."

 "Guerilla Laments" starts with a percussion and a triumphant cascade of horns. I also detect something of a latin feel in their music.

We begin "Kevlar Sweethearts" with cellos. The vocals are gentler, soft and sweet. However, like kevlar, there is a harder edge as well. It is quite a haunting song.

The cellos lead us in to "How to Organise a Lynch Mob" too with their slow and longing voice. Then, it is consumed by "Black Box Messiah" as the synths and a far more modern sound takes over, reminsicent of the 80s pop explosion and peppered with strange vocals. Okay, so I have no idea how to classify this, but the vocals are a little Muse-ish, along with their rising power and striking the inner core of the soul in a slightly chaotic manner.

A rather heavier number, "Exit Strategy of a Wrecking Ball" has the force of the great ball itself, swinging in ponderous and threatening arches, getting closer and closer to contact. The chugging bass intermingled with twanging cellos. More synthesizer. Vocals quite Muse-esque, but with more horns and trumpets, and violin or cello,  and therefore superior. The intermingling of thrash, synth and classical instruments is masterful.

Not that I don't love Muse.

 "I have come to erase you, I'm here to replace you..."

There are also some aggressive numetal vibes here too, which are made more impressive with the addition of cello. I do not like numetal, but I REALLY like this!

"Aurora" starts like a starburst. Little percussive lights flickering over the horizon, exploding into fire. The vocals are almost-opera but more reminiscent of a musical. There are also some soothing folk vibes. Beautiful, transcendent and brought to life by the orchaestral melodies.

They're back into the cellos with "Mass Rapture", building into something epic, with a chugging more modern metal sound, but jerky rhythms from another era. The melodic, chanted choruses are haunted, beautiful, with a hint of opera.

We're back into the musical-meets-Muse vibes with a "Honey Trap Aftermath". The lyrics are staccato, punctuated by horns and with a distinctly jazz (?) vibe.

Dramatic staccato and horns deliver us into the mighty "Of Kali Ma Calibre".  The rum-tum-tum-tum of the drums leads us into the operatic vocals.  This is pure, symphonic Power and Might. Swelling from the speakers, pounding us with its majesty, before falling into chaotic rhythms, and then descending into a few brief chords of grindcore, swelling and slowing into the purity of violins. This is insane and wonderful.

The final track, "Justice for Saint Mary" has rather slower vibes and is also pure symphonic metal - violins and cellos weaving a fine web of power. Slow, melodic; haunting and rich. The drama builds, the tension mounts... the music becomes more frantic, the violins desperately against the deep howls of the cello, the drums, and other instruments rising, rising into an almighty storm, intense in its power and fury. Rising... Rising... Rising... And then it quiets and comes crashing down into....

... okay, I'm not going to tell you how this piece ends. Listen to it instead!

Pure majesty, power and originality - such an eclectic blend of metal, symphony, swing, jazz, latin and, well, everything else, can create only two things - a confused cornucopia of noise or this - something that truly needs to be listened to - and listened to LOUD - something that will reach deep within the core of your being, spark all the synapses in your brain that relate to auditory delight and invigorate you with boundless energy and positive vibes.

This is one album that you will play, and play again, and again, just to experience the full blend of emotions and sheer epicness of this album. It is extraordinary.

Yeh, you understand it - I really, really, really like this album. In fact, I'm going to rate it 11/10.
That's to say, it's currently the most interesting and intense album in my collection, and I feel a little sorry to listen to something else, as I suspect after this one it will be rather an anticlimax.

So in advance, I apologise to you, Eluveitie, for Diablo Swing Orchaestra are a hard act to follow.

And special thanks to my awesome brother for finding me another new favourite band - first he introduced me to Mercury Rev, now Diablo Swing Orchaestra. He is truly the Best Brother Ever.
(His blog is: Dances for Architecture and he writes better about music than I do. Check him out).

Unwoman - Knowledge Scars (2001)

Keeping it Californian, we now have Unwoman - the solo project of Erica Mulkey, who is vocalist and celloist, with electronic influences.

She has been branded as "steampunk" which is a strange genre designation by any means and I have no idea what it refers to. Her music is a strange infusion of electronic noise, vocals - sometimes distorted, cello and overall weirdness. I'm not sure quite what to make of it.

I did not buy this CD, it may have just appeared in my collection, but more likely my brother - he of the most eclectic and avantgarde tastes, passed it onto me. I'm not quite sure if it was because he thought I would like it or because he had two copies of it. I have to confess, I am not overly fond of it, although she does have a very lovely voice, the discordant, disjoined background noise (hard to call it music) does not spark anything in me except for plucking a little at my nerves.

Still, maybe it shall improve with a dissection. In practice, with CDs that I have listened to maybe once previously (like this one), I listen through them entirely before I begin on a track-by-track breakdown.

She really does have a lovely voice. Why oh why can't the music gain some sort of consistency?

Started again from the beginning and it's actually starting to grow on me.

Cover is not astonishing, but has a sort of melancholic air to the portrait. Maybe it's all the purple. Not sure about the steampunk definition - looks more cyberpunk to me - from the font to the format. The music adds an almost sci-fi edge to it.

The band name is taken from "A Handmaid's Tale" the Margaret Atwood dystopia novel (which I have not read) and which I think also reflects the lyrics and general theme.

"In Gilead" begins with something that I cannot quite understand - "the mind has forgot what a woman is meant to be?" It then moves into dreamy cello and drum machine, with crackling sounds like an old record, scratching its way into oblivion. Over this, wails Erica's fragile voice. She has some nice trills to it. Overall, it is dreamy and somewhat surreal. The lyrics are quite dark - defining a woman by her bits - debating

"you have reduced us to our fertility... A womb, a c**t, a dried-out shell..."

More drum machine and samples beckon us into "The Futurist's Nightmare". This does have something of a clockwork feel - a wind-up doll trapped in eternal motion. No lyrics printed, just short, sung lines. Her voice really is like glass, or maybe crystal, stabbing through the distorting electronic noises. The noise is not too loud, but very discordent, twisting and writhing like a cobweb of wires. 

I believe the next song, "Deeper Understanding" seems to be a cover of a Kate Bush song. As such, there are more lyrics, and we get to hear a little more of Erica's vocal talents. She really does have a nice voice, although it does seem kind of thin, and I cannot help but imagine her as this slender waif of a thing, entangled in a cradle ot cables. The music is pure electronic noise, somewhat subdued.


A short way into "Who Programmed My Desire?" I am beginning to wonder - is my CD skipping? Don't think so... Fairly repetitive rhythm. Vocals, but no definable lyrics (none printed either).

We have bongo-style drums and electric cello to begin "Knowledge Scars". It has an almost tribal feel - albeit a weird and futuristic tribal feel. Erica's voice seems to be gaining strength too, as she is given full rein over her own lyrics. So far, this is definitely my favourite song on this album. It seems to have a better definied structure. It even has a discernable chorus and concludes with a rather nice cello solo.

Strident string instruments and distortion mark the beginning to "Freedom from Religion?" Along with sampling. Erica's voice is gaining in strength with every song, as here the hint of venom tempers it. This is a not unpleasant anti-religion song:

"You can't legislate reverence. Our cultures are our own. There is no god for us. We can't believe what we know is false."

 Although the music is still discordant and flavoured with samples and synths and drum machine rhythms, interspersed with wailing vocals.

The beginning of "Sentiment (White Feathers)" is almost painful, and sounds like my speakers are about to explode. Then the drums come in and prove that the noise is intentional, and not a mechanical breakdown. The rhythm of this song is actually pretty good. It is another cover song. I think it may have once been a folk song. Nope, it's a social political song about how meat animals (pigs, cows) are treated. Rather a haunting one actually. Here's the original by Crass. This version is also haunting - but more in a "ghost in the machine" kind of way. I kinda like it. I think I might play it loudly. The rhythm is exceedingly catchy, and a little faster in this version.
The lyrics might make you want to turn vegetarian.

The electronic vibes do funny things to my head, kinda reverberating in my skull. I remember when everyone (except me) was in love with techno, and used to play it far too loudly in the Seventh Form Common Room at school. My locker was just outside the room, and it used to make me feel physically ill. This doesn't make me feel ill, but it does feel kinda weird.

We seem to have some sort of organ-kinda-noise in "Dispossessed".

"Lament for Peter Pan" is rather haunting, the music wailing like a lost spirit over the equally lonely vocals.

Discordance and skipping samples, echo the voices of souls lost in the electronic hell. "Subsistence" is oh-so very weird. I cannot explain it. It's almost like a machine calling for help. Is my CD skipping? If I turn it up louder, will my speakers explode? Are the spirits of cyberspace preparing to unleash themselves upon an unsuspecting world? According to the sleeve, the source material is from "Paresthesia" which  is the sensation of pins and needles. That is EXACTLY what this music replicates. Little prickling needles, electric sensation; prod-prod-prodding at your ears. Growing in volume, breaking, splintering.
It's actually pretty damned freaky.
And it's been going for over four minutes now.

Ringing synth vibrates and echoes into the eerie "You". Erica sounds lost, fractured from reality.

There are samples from "Labyrinth" in "When I Touch Myself".  It is a song about how love can make you weak and tear you away from yourself. It's almost poetry, and written by Dolores Haze - whomever she is.

"What I realised today was that in loving you I forgot to love myself. Then I was nothing and you lost interest. More importantly, I lost interest in myself."

True words, Ms Haze. True words.

"The Drowning Man" drowns you in its churning rhythms and engulfs you in its haunting vocals. The distorted samples are like great droplets, pounding the ears. The echoing, spectral music with its twisting, writhing rhythms and edge of desperation, push you down, suffocating. drowning you.
I think The Cure do it better, though.

More stuttering samples and discordances bring us into "Vacant Skies Revisited". The lyrics are pure morbid poetry, a song of fractured skies and tattered clouds.

This is a weird album, and one I would likely not have bought myself. It is something of an oddity in my collection. The discordancies, the strange samples, the electronic noise twist and writhe into my ears in a manner that is not exactly pain, but not pelasure either. It is tangled, and twisted and surreal and strange. Possibly if I listen to it more often, it might grow on me, or if I turn it up louder it might spark something in my synapses, and make me either ill or put me on an auditory high.

As it currently stands, however (and I'm sorry brother*), I'm going to have to rate it a 4/10. I guess I'm just too mainstream.

* If I recall, you did say "you may not like it" when you gave it to me?

Promethean - Gazing the Invisible (1997)

Poor Promethean don't seem to have made much of a mark on the Music Market - they don't even have a Wikipedia page. They do, however, have three core members (guitar, vocals, mandolin, keyboard) and an eclectic blend of "friends in need are friends indeed*" with instruments - guitar, drums, flute, violin, cello and even recorder. Taking many aspects of folk music, they have blended it with a fairly light metal sound and applied vocals that are not disimilar to those of My Dying Bride (the singing, not the growling) and Anathema.

The album cover is kinda dreary really - sepia tones, a strange image that seems to consist of a kneeling naked person with their lower body turned to stone and their hair merging into smeared, surreal braids. The band name, in a font only slightly darker than the general green-browns of the cover is quite difficult to read and the lyrics are so tiny and white on sepia that one almost needs a magnifying glass to read them, like the songs, they merge into one and are divided by paragraph breaks but not headed by titles making you wonder if you are intended to just listen to the entire album from beginning to end.

The spine reads:

"When everything is nothing and all new is but the same cover the earth with your sins and never feel any shame"

 It is all rather avantgarde (like their label) but does not make for very impressive or eye-catching packaging - which kind of makes me wonder why I picked them up. I am glad they did, however, because although their packaging may be drab and kinda cheap, I do like their music.

This music has great atmosphere - I believe it is the folk elements. It is very much "Mood" music, the sort that you could play cheerfully in the background for ages, and never grow tired of. It is pretty soothing though - no roaring guitars or raging drums - making you quite realise how extremely eclectic the "metal" genre is.

I have decided to listen to this album from beginning to end to get the feel for it, then listen to it again and begin my track dissection. Thus I shall save it for now and begin the "breakdown" of songs later today.

Let's see if a dissection can improve my understanding of this album:

The CD begins with some discordant notes before breaking in to soothing folk music of "Eternal Fall". This theme continues through much of the album. The vocalist's voice is rich, deep and mellow with good harmonics.

More mellow folk sounds lead us in to "Polygon" along with a few of the more discordant screeching beats, and a steady thrum building hte the background. Vocals are whispered, quoting lyrics that are at once poetic and also somewhat nonsensical - the ones printed on the spine, in fact. We are then treated for some very mood-infused folk music, mellow, laid back, like an evening spent lounging in the sun, perhaps strumming your mandolins or guitars as you put your feet up, lean back and close your eyes, sinking in to the music.

Birdsong and flute marks the beginning of "Gazing", a sound invoking thoughts of two lovers, gazing into each other's eyes as they lie in a field of golden corn, the wind twisting and whipping it around them.

"The" is a lovely intrumental piece.

The pace picks up a little, but only a smidgeon, for "Invisible". It has some nice trilly bits, introducing butterflies to our cornfield, but ultimately the sun is still shimmering down and the sending striations of light upon the ground, between the stalks. It is also devoid of vocals.

The vocals return in "Don't Mind the Dancer" as a child skips and spins through the cornfield, turning circles whilst butterflies flutter around their outstretched arms and the wind shimmers and shines around them. The serenity and innocence is shattered as we enter into the second half of this track, "The Dance with the Diseased" with discordant twanging music and a barely audible ranting voice.

"All Blue is Beautiful" and so is this song, with its frolicking flute and some other sort of buzzy-sounding instrument (I really wish I knew what these things were called).It inexplicably ends with the beeping of a disconnected telephone.

Haunting chords usher us in to "The Kiss of All that Remains". The vocals begin again, with almost half the lyrics on the sleeve remaining for this song and the next.

And then my Windows Media Player spontaneously forgot that I have a CD drive.

Luckily I had already stored this album on my harddrive, and thus can listen to the last track.

Not surprisingly, "Flowing Downwards" is something of a slow and romantic tune - at least for the first minute or so, then abruptly it ups the beat and breaks into something a tad more aggressive (but only a tad, this is the soothing and laidback Promethean, after all). This song is like the river, at times relaxed and slow, sluggish between the banks, other times narrow, deep and dangerous. There is a hint of the ominous on the horizon - a waterfall, perhaps?

"...I'm a god now and the slaves shall serve..."

As far as this album is concerned, the songs do sort of merge together, and although I would compare it with Amorphis's "Elegy" I think it would benefit from having a couple faster-paced numbers. As it stands, it is sort of like a gentle flow of sound, all beautifully structured and very musical but no real stand out pieces.  For the most part, pleasant and soothing.

This earns it a rating, from me, of  7/10.


* Which I presume means friends WE need as opposed to friends that need us.

For some reason, possibly due to Orphaned Land, I have remembered this band, and now just want to listen to this song several times, very loudly:

Babylon Whores - In Arcadia's Ego 

If anyone can get me the CD this is off, "Cold Heaven" I will.. do something nice for you.   I had a copy of the video, taped from MTV, but alaso, time is not kind to Video Cassettes and it was devoured by mould...