Karl Mohr’s ‘The End of the Line’ suffers from a malady that
strikes too many albums. There is one really killer song on
the album, and then it falls flat. The opening song on the
CD, “Unidentified Flying Object” is a great song, with driving
chuggy guitars and dirgey drums leading the way backed by
well timed and nicely produced electronics. There is also a
German language version of the song here to close out the
CD, “AuBerirdisches Wesen, UFO”. It is an interesting way
to bring together the songs on the CD as an album. Many
bands have tried in the past to use the same keyboard line
or guitar riff in a number of songs to give their album a
cohesive theme and sound, and it works on albums like
Pink Floyd’s ‘The Wall’ and ‘The Downward Spiral’ by Nine
Inch Nails. Recording the same song in another language is
an intriguing idea, and it works well here, if only for the
break the second version of the track provides from the rest
of the CD.
The following songs are a strange mix of experimental
electronic instrumentals and poetry. In a way, ‘The End of
the Line’ reminds me of Pink Floyd’s ‘The Wall’, only much
more abstract and without the feeling of a cohesive concept
album. Some of the songs almost sound like pop songs,
such as “Kleines Feuerstuckchen”, though I really have no
idea what the song is about since I don’t speak German.
“Have You Seen My Rabbit?” stands out as a depressive
lullaby for Pugsley and Wednesday Addams. “Can Your
Remains Be Buried With Mine?”, which I assume to be the
ballad on the album, is more depressing than any song I
have ever heard, despite the circus-themed musical
instrumental in the middle of the song. It sounds like a
musical lobotomy, only with less energy.
“The End of the Line” is one of the strangest albums I
have ever listened to. Between the two versions of
“Unidentified Flying Object”, it’s just too slow and
depressing for my tastes. Don’t get me wrong, some of the
songs are not too bad. “Blown Away” is a pretty decent
song, with a bit of a Mazzy Star-esque shoe gazing quality
to it. It offers a bit of a break from the rest of the CD’s
depressive electro-goth dirge, as does “Rock and Roll
Robot” – a fairly good electronic track in the same vein as
Daft Punk’s ‘Homework’ album. Still, on this CD the bad
outweighs the good by at least a few pounds. – chris parasyte
Tag: chris parasyte
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Karl Mohr – The End of the Line
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Absurd Minds – Deception
Project Pitchfork’s latest offering is a pretty decent album
called Deception. It sounds pretty much par for the course
for Project Pitchfork, and fans of the band shouldn’t be let
down. The music is pretty well written, as usual, with the
signature sound fans of the band have come to know and
love over the past decade or so. Peter Spilles’ vocals are a
bit rougher on Deception than on other Project Pitchfork
albums such as Eon:Eon or Chakra: Red!, delivered with a
bit of an aggressive growl this time around.
Oh, sorry, wait a second. Now that I take a closer look, I can
see that this isn’t Project Pitchfork at all. It’s the N*Sync to
Pitchfork’s Backstreet – Absurd Minds. Listen to this album
and you’ll see how I could get the two confused.
All kidding aside, Deception is a good album. Sure, it
sounds like it was pieced together from the loose bits of
tape lying around on Peter Spilles’ studio cutting room floor,
but it’s pieced together very well and is an enjoyable album
all around. – chris parasyte -
MortIIs – The Smell of Rain
“What the fuck?”
It’s a pretty common reaction to Mortiis, both visually and
musically. In the past, any time I’ve played Mortiis’ music for
a friend or shown them a picture or his web site, the
response has usually been something along the lines of a
baffled look of confusion or revulsion.
Mortiis is a weird guy. He looks like a demonic elf, with long
prosthetic pointy ears, a hooked nose, heavy makeup and a
wardrobe that makes KISS look like Weezer. On past
albums, such as ‘Crypt of the Wizard’ or ‘Keiser av en
Dimension Ukjent’ (which loosely translated means
‘Emperor of a Dimension Unknown’), his music was nothing
short of epic instrumental. Mortiis produced soundtracks for
slaying orcs in a darker world (or at least a Playstation
RPG).
Then, with ‘The Smell of Rain’, something changed. Gone
are the long instrumentals. Gone is the sense of epic
adventure and consequence. Gone is the enveloping feeling
of the fantastic the music of Mortiis once instilled.
We’ve entered Mortiis: Era 2.
‘The Smell of Rain’ starts like any other Mortiis album could
be expected to start – the opening track, “Parasite God”,
begins as a strange sounding electronic keyboard line with
a dark tone to it plays a somber tune. Twenty-two seconds
later, the bass drum kicks in, and Mortiis fans say “What the
fuck?” At 1:27, Mortiis fans realize why he’s never put vocal
tracks on his albums before. Mortiis really can not sing very
well at all.
Yet his staccato vocal delivery style seems to fit with the
music on this album, which is a strange mix of Mortiis’ own
brand of electronic opus and Sisters of Mercy influenced
goth rock. While the music on this album is unlike anything
Mortiis has ever really done before, with his solo projects
or during his days with black metal band Emperor, ‘The
Smell of Rain’ is actually a pretty decent album musically.
The vocals are, perhaps fortunately, recorded at a rather
low level in the mix on most of the songs. Not only is
Mortiis a poor singer, he’s also not a great songwriter by
any stretch. There are some pretty awful lyrics on here,
more or less reminiscent of some of the early bootleg Nine
Inch Nails demos.
When you look at the list of artists Mortiis thanks for
inspiration this time around (including Nine Inch Nails,
Enigma, Moby, Vangelis, horrible 80’s synth pop, Rob
Zombie, Tool, KMFDM, The Sisters of Mercy and many
more), it’s almost understandable why this album sounds
the way it does. Key word: “almost”. How any artist can
make a departure like this from their old style of music is
never easy to understand, unless they’re going after Top
40 rotation like Apoptygma Berzerk seems to be doing.
‘The Smell of Rain’ is not going to hit mainstream radio
charts, and Mortiis won’t be on MTV any time soon. It is a
pretty decent album, despite its campy lyrics and almost
schizophrenic musical composition. Fans of industrial,
darkwave, goth rock and dark synth pop will all be able to
find something on this CD they can enjoy. – chris parasyte -
Absurd Minds – Damn the Lie
The second verse the same as the first – Absurd Minds
return with their second full-length CD of Project Pitchfork
influenced EBM. It’s a good thing Deception was a really
good CD, because Damn The Lie shows little evidence of
artistic growth in terms of song writing, composition or
thematic. The songs on Damn The lie are well produced,
and well written, but they really just stay the course as laid
out on the previous CD.
While it is an enjoyable album to listen to, it really doesn’t
break any new ground. It’s good, but not great. If Absurd
Minds can just break out of this trying to sound “More
Pitchfork Than Pitchfork” mentality they seem to be set
into, and work towards a more unique sound of their own,
they could be one of the groups to watch in the next few
years. – chris parasyte -
Inner Surge – Solus Verum
Let’s get one thing straight right off the bat. When I go to
see a band play live, I want to walk out ofthere saying
“Man, that was great! They played hard, they gave it all they
got, they rocked my world and their shit was together …
fuckin’ cool!” And I’d rather be able to say it without having
to have had the entire experience blurred into enjoyment by
cheap ass draft.
Inner Surge let me do that. I had the chance to check the
band out a few months back at Calgary’s Level 4 Nightclub
(formerly Bourbon Street, formerly Rebar, formerly Dunes,
formerly Gargoyles, etc.) On a cramped little stage, with too
many musicians for the space they had to play in, Inner
Surge kicked some serious ass. The strength of the live
show rests in the rhythm section – a driving combination of
bass and percussion that reminded me somewhat of bands
like Tool and Rage Against the Machine. They’re the only
hard alternative rock band I’ve seen employ a Digeridoo,
which made me snicker at first but won me over soon after.
They played a great set and I wouldn’t think twice about
seeing them again.
At the heart of Inner Surge is one Steve Moore. He’s a
talented guy, don’t get me wrong, but on Solus Verum he
seems to have maybe bitten off a bit more than he could
chew. On the album, Moore composed, performed and
produced the music almost entirely by himself, bringing in
only a handful of guest musicians on very few of the songs.
The music is well written and for the most part well
performed, but Moore’s abilities as a producer are
questionable. The vocals on most of the tracks sound, to be
blunt, pretty awful, and could benefit greatly from the
experience a professional producer would bring to the mix.
The problem is not that Moore is bad singer, it’s just that on
this CD he is pretty poorly recorded. There are places on
the album where the music seems to drown itself out in a
blur of fuzzy bass sounds. Solus Verum would make a great
demo, and it is passable as an album, but I’m afraid it
doesn’t hold up as well as it could.
Despite the points it loses on technical merit, Solus Verum
has more heart and soul in it than anything in the same
vein has shown in years. Steve Moore’s passion for his
music and lyrics shows through on every song the CD.
These songs are some of the most politically motivated
I’ve heard in a long time, especially on the local scene.
Give Moore credit, this is a big project for one guy to try to
undertake by himself. Realistically, he should’ve had more
help with Solus Verum than he seems to have had. If the
live show they put on is any indication of what they’re
capable of, I look forward to hearing more from Inner
Surge in the future.
Live show – 9/10
CD – 6.5/10
-chris parasyte
