I really enjoyed this album. Primarily because of its diversity. There are plenty of elements that just appear out of nowhere and leave you either thinking 'cool' or 'WTF', but either way anything that makes music more interesting to listen to deserves mention.
"Gasmask Prince" has a pretty solid tempo and heavy vocals, but when what sounds like King Diamond sings a couple lines... It's like 'whoa' that was unexpected. While on "Lik Ulven" it's straight up black metal blasting and rasped Norwegian vocals and at nearly 6 minutes also the longest track on the album. The promo images of the band have them all donning masks to keep themselves incognito, much like any modern pirate "Under the Black Flag" would do. They use operatic vocals and really strange timing signatures on the track too. Slowing things down a touch but adding plenty of atmospheres, "Decomposers" drags you along its meandering course through slow groves 'til it ends on a trashier note. Switching backing to singing in Norwegian for "Knokkeklang" and upping the intensity with it, the guitars buzz heavily and squeal loudly until over processed vocals with a distorted sci-fi edge fade things out, for it all to kick off again in an onslaught of vicious drumming. The chorus on "Slagens Barn" has a haunting echo to it, but the drumming is very catchy and energetic. But not nearly as intense or flowing as the drumming on "Onwards! Onwards!" where the guitars also drive on with a powerful rhythm. In almost all mad scientist movies they either have plasma balls or Tesla Coils emitting bursts of lighting for ambience. Well, "Tesla" has a bit of an erratic electrical undercurrent which simmers and then bursts forth to simmer again. The clean vocals meld effortlessly into the maelstrom of drums and guitars and a long sweeping solo, one of the few on the album.
Well worth giving a listen to, even if you may not find it to be utterly to your liking, but I doubt that should really be the case.
http://www.myspace.com/konsortiummetal
Marco Gaminara
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