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Jasmina Shreck puts on her listening ears, adjusts her long black hair, and reviews the latest in local Rock and Metal releases.
Depth Beyond One’s: Red Lines Entwined
Revolving lyrically around a boy with a lousy childhood and consequent psychosis, eventually leading to hate, rape and murder, Depth Beyond One’s debut Red Lines Entwined could be described as a rather disturbing concept album.
The first song Wraith unveils the protagonist’s past. What follows are single moments from his life over the years when he is growing up, expressed in often no more than a few obtuse lines of thought. Though loosened by its keyboard parts, the music contributes to the sinister atmosphere and is certainly not easy to get into. In my opinion, the band’s progressive rock-metal approach is a bit too experimental at times, and some songs come off as unnecessarily long-winded. Also, I cannot really acquire a taste for the vocals, which vary between almost-spoken and rather rough and unsteady.
In contrast to the disturbing overall character of the album, two instrumental tracks provide some calmer moments. Poverty has remarkable additional percussion and the use of an accordion, which gives the song a slightly melancholic edge.
“Red Lines Entwined” is definitely not easy-listening, but its conceptual form is worth checking out for those with enough patience and an interest in progressive music.
Vene: Ihmisten Naamaan
11 songs in 26 minutes: this must be fast, aggressive and noisy, I think.
Such is exactly the case with Vene, who describe their music as ‘noise rock.’
I really don’t have anything to add to that: both the instruments and the singer’s voice are used as the source of an incredible din. In their best moments they sound like Nirvana on speed, but unfortunately most of their songs sound very much alike to my ears.
The album, despite the short playing time, is only listenable to if you just got dumped by your boyfriend or girlfriend, or lost your job and on returning home discovered that your cats have set your kitchen on fire. In these cases the angry outbursts of a bunch of teenagers might be immensely satisfying to listen to, but otherwise Ihmisten Naamaan is simply too tiring.
Sicknote: Deadbeat Way
“Sounds like a bunch of grown-up men doin' the shit they love to do,” Sicknote declare of themselves on their MySpace website.
The ‘shit they love to do’ seems to be straightforward rock’n roll with a decent portion of blues, in which you can literally smell the beer and believe yourself found in billows of cigarette smoke.
Guitars clearly play the prevailing role in Sicknote’s music. The vocals are slightly husky and to my taste could be rougher, but whisky consumption is said to help with that.
Sicknote certainly don’t reinvent the wheel in this record, which lacks variation. Then again, Motörhead have survived for decades with basically one single.
All in all, Deadbeat Way sounds like Motörhead meets The Black League and it definitely rocks.
Brüssel Kaupallinen: Musta Polku
Brüssel Kaupallinen aren’t new to the Oulu music scene: the band are celebrating their twentieth band anniversary next year with a gig in the soon-to-be-opened Nuclear Nightclub in Oulu. Despite the long career, Musta Polku is only their third full-length album release. Kotiteollisuus comes instantly to mind from the heavy, rockish overall sound and from Janne Helttunen’s spoken-rather-than-sung vocals.
Even in the catchy opening track Nahkaradio, Helttunen’s voice doesn’t show any sign of sounding overly melodic, which is perhaps a trademark in itself. The other ‘thing’ is the lyrics, which are immensely expressive and to the point. Varjele mun järkeni, for example, a track about the–some may say worn-out, others timeless–topic of the ‘devil alcohol’ that ‘lures you again and again into its trap,’ is so vividly written it’s just creepy.
For the sake of completeness it should also be mentioned that Hiili Hiilesmaa, besides producing the album, also played a rhythm egg on some of the tracks.
Brüssel Kaupallinen’s characteristic vocals might not be to everyone’s liking but they don’t bother you, Musta Polku is definitely worth checking out.
Check back next month for more local band reviews.
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