Physical Pleasures and Addictive Thrill

I can clearly see how the North Sea would be suffering under these sounds, emitted by this very obscure Norwegian bunch who decided to meddle with the organized lunacy of early At the Gates by also stealing some of the surreal complexity of the Dutch school (Phlebotomized, Cromm Cruac) for the production of this interesting multi-layered albeit occasionally not very even recording.

So it’s progressive death metal we’re talking about, one that doesn’t boast very good production qualities, but marches assuredly forward with the steam-rolling Bolt Thrower-esque strides of “Fred's Dead”. Fred may be dead but not some dispassionate mechanical chugs which suddenly turn to aggressive hyper-active melees, weird ethereal melodies, and breath-taking semi-balladic respites, a very eventful, not very disciplined cavalcade which lets precise surgical tech-death lead the show on “Violent And Killing Anger”, an outstanding surreal shredder with twisted motifs emerging later to further deepen the perplexity. For some this exercise in eccentric technicality may be the highlight, but there’s definitely more to savour here like the sweeping hyper-blasting excursions on the otherwise more orderly melo-deathster “When Sanity Goes Insane”, the slow-burning dramatic accumulations on “Jadish Ways”, or the cavernous scenes of the dark atmospheric progressiver “Sleepwalkers” on which even cleaner vocals appear to give a lesson in actual singing to the overshouty raven-like main ones.

To these ears the laurels should go to “Killed by the Different Words”, a relatively short non-fussy technicaller with choppy staccato riffs interlacing with blazing virtuoso leads on a melodramatic melodic background; an example in visionary song-writing without much ado that tries to revise At the Gates’ “The Red in the Sky Is Ours” within just 4-min. In fact, nearly every other track here can be viewed a summative exercise of some sorts, the band using a wide palette to draw their vistas the latter losing coherence here and there, but never putting the musicians’ arsenal of ideas and tools in doubt. It’s a tight interesting half-an-hour package that will keep you guessing, but without blowing your fuses off every few minutes. Thrilling? Yes. Addictive? I’m not sure; it doesn’t quite reach this dizzying level of dissonant Molestation (remember this incredible “Blod-draum”) with which the guys’ motherland also became synonymous at around the same time.