Suffocate For Fuck Sake - Blazing Fires and Helicopters...

My second 'test review' for The Silent Ballet webzine and, writing this some reviews later, probably the most peculiar one I had assigned so far...

Suffocate For Fuck Sake manage to place its audience in a unique world, a dark atmosphere filled with breathtaking brutality and blinding beauty. They describe their sound as Breach, Cult Of Luna, Mogwai and Sigur Ros all playing at the same time and have a trademark of combining their music with vocal samples taken from recorded interviews. On Blazing Fires and Helicopters on the Frontpage of the Newspaper. There's a War Going on and I'm Marching in Heavy Boots they “follow a Swedish girl when she's looking back to the time she got put in a mental institute.” If that sounds like it could make for an interesting album concept, well, it does.

The contrast of slow-core, dark ambient and interview samples form a mesmerizing and touching whole. Blazing Fires... focuses on the concept of losing control in life, which is reflected in the brutality of the harder parts and the creativity in the ambient parts of the album. The intensity and contrast make it a heavy album to digest, as it tends to creep up on the listener every time he begins to feel slightly comfortable. It's a roller coaster of emotions and extremes, not really well suited as background music… it’s a pearl that needs undivided attention.

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Suffocate for Fuck Sake myspace

From Oceans to Autumn & Fire on the Horizon - Split

The “long awaited and delayed split” by From Oceans to Autumn and Fire On The Horizon comes courtesy of Forgotten Empire Records, the label that also released From Oceans to Autumn’s debut Calmed By The Tide in late 2007. It's a sweeping collection of familiar figurative terms which isn’t immediately an indicator of great inspiration to me.

Split releases are mostly something strange; a glorified demo, or to promote a band to a similar bands audience, sometimes an epic release, and this is a bit of it all (except the epic part). Ten dollars for 65 minutes of music is nevertheless not a bad deal. Fire on the Horizon is a band with potential to follow up, and From Oceans to Autumn is a decent band, if you can stand attention claiming drums at least.

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Fire on the Horizon myspace
From Oceans to Autumn myspace

de La Mancha - Atlas

One of the two test reviews I wrote for The Silent Ballet and an album that blew my mind... an excerpt:

The innovative and refreshing sound makes de la Mancha stand out from the masses. The balance of dreamy psychedelic indie and post-rock, all with a melancholy you’ll only find in Sweden, works brilliantly, I might even dare to use the word addictive. Atlas has taken me to a magnificent high, only to smoothly bring me back down and leave me craving for more…

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de La Mancha myspace
de La Mancha website

Downliners Sekt - The Saltire Wave

The Saltire Wave is a vessel ripping through trip-hop static, unveiling the unexplored universe of what the sound of Downliners Sekt has grown into in the past few years. By drowning almost every possible piece of recording in a wide variety of effects, the listener will never be completely sure of what he's listening to. Something that gives the impression of being a guitar could just as easily be an ingeniously tweaked sample of a scuba diver. Noises, glitch and ambience intertwine the many subtle nuances created by the expert use of (practically) unheard instruments like didgeridoos. All of this is strengthened by sometimes acoustic, sometimes fuzz-spitting amplified guitars, making the crushed downbeat fit right in. The untamed bass and fearless drums form the solid engine leading to the most sublime "Point Omega", a track that leaves the listener in awe, covered in sound-bites. Downliners Sekt makes us wonder what a movie like Powaqqatsi in a contemporary feel would look and sound like.

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download the album
Downliners Sekt website