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Nadja > When I See the Sun Always Shines on TV > Reviews > caspian
Nadja - When I See the Sun Always Shines on TV

One of the better cover albums out there.. - 85%

caspian, April 24th, 2009

Nadja's new full length is a pretty interesting one, the covers list is fairly strange and disappointing (really didn't need A-Ha and Elliott Smith) but it's cool seeing our drone crew do stuff that sounds like normal songs. It's not their best album but probably a rather good introduction to the strange nad fuzzy world of Nadja.

As with most cover albums, some stuff goes down really well, some doesn't. MBV's "Only Shallow" is given the more My Bloody Valentine then My Bloody Valentine trick, and it doesn't really work; it was never the most interesting MBV song and the Godflesh-like drums and Aidan's vocals don't really fit terribly well. It's no surprise but the Slayer cover is probably the best, it sort of sounds like an outtake from Touched ‘08; huge doom riffs with the usual ghostly vocals (and an interesting take on Kerry King's solo) and massive drums, really doomy and heavy; sounds great although a faster cover would've been cooler. I wanted to hear Aidan try the scream from Angel of Death, oh well.

It's kind of pointless going through every song here, suffice to say that those who've heard the usual Nadja releases won't be too surprised by what's on offer here. Most of the stuff alternates between more upbeat, major key type workouts, whereas other ones are slowed down to a more desolate type of soundscape, such as the excellent Codeine cover. I'm certain he's used the same chord progressions in that song as he has in others he's done, but whatever, it's heavy and super bummed out; a real return to that classic Nadja sound; vaguely Jesu-ish, with bigger guitars, more depression and that sort of awed by the universe feel that drone doom in general is so good at, all with a rather nice mellow comedown.. And all within four minutes! Unlike most of the more recent, experimental ambient of Nadja's recent stuff it's great to hear the riffs return in some measure.

Those looking for some giant shoegazey doom would be hard pressed to go past this record. If you missed Long Dark Twenties and the Swans cover off Trembled then you'll be able to snap them up here, although they've been redone and stripped of their fuzziness and death-by-loop-pedalness, which is a bit of a shame as the originals were great in that totally over-the-top layer of sound Nadja do so well. I guess the only real problem here, again, is some of the covers; certainly a Sabbath or Electric Wizard cover (or, just for total epicness, an Angelic Process cover) would've been much preferable over rubbish like Elliott Smith. Overall, well worth getting, especially for the beginner as it's easily the catchiest thing he's ever done.