Language: Swedish (Svenska)
Genre: Blackgaze
Label Number: OPCD 213
© 2006 Osmose Productions
Reviewed by "James" for Metal Reviews.com
© 2006 Osmose Productions
Reviewed by "James" for Metal Reviews.com
Lifelover are
one of the most under-appreciated black metal acts today, having
released three albums of their blend of goth rock and depressive
black metal to a fairly neutral response. It seems the wheels are
slowly starting to move for the band, however, as their 2006 debut,
Pulver
has just been released on the legendary Osmose records. If you've
heard their last album, Konkurs
you'll know what to expect here. It's all driving post-punk
basslines, standard Swedish black metal riffing, and the tormented
howling of frontman ( ). Pulver,
however, is a leaner creature, the band being relatively free of the
tinkly pianos that got a bit much on Konkurs.
The
stripped-down sound and garage production, coupled with the fact the
band's songwriting seemed a bit looser at this point, makes Pulver
a far more deranged, twisted release than later works. The band's
line in coal-black humour is still present, of course, ( )'s lyrics
being the same sardonic tales of sex and death they've been since.
And of course the band have a nice line in samples, Pulver
juxtaposing children's TV with hardcore pornography. It's not as
disconcerting as the band would have wanted it to be, mind, only
interlude Medicinmannen
conjuring up any sort of atmosphere. And occasionally, as in the case
of the cod-French music at the end of Mitt
Oppna Oga,
it sounds just a little silly.
Still,
all these trappings count for very little, and the actual songs here
are a stronger bunch than Konkurs.
The band barely put a foot wrong, with Karlek-
Becksvart Melankoli
and Mitt Oppna Oga
being highlights. The only really weak spot is Vardagsnytt,
based around an odd, almost pop-punk riff that most bands would have
kept for goofing off in the studio. Well, Avbrott
Sex is
a fairly pointless interlude, but there you go. It follows into
Stockholm,
which would be one of the most commercial slices of dark pop they've
put to tape (there's even whistling!) if it didn't have a horrifying
vocal performance from ( ), sounding as close as he ever has to slit
wrists and a warm bath. The record pulls it's most surprising move
right at the end, with En
Sang Og Dig
blending a bleak clean guitar riff with a busy, almost drum-and-bass
backing beat. Although, there is a sense throughout the album of
something being very wrong, songs often transitioning into wildly
different sections with little rhyme or reason. Usually not a cause
for celebration, but in Lifelover's
case it adds to the off-kilter atmosphere present throughout.
For
those disappointed with Amesoeurs'
lukewarm
full-length, released earlier this year to a resounding “meh”,
may I suggest Pulver.
It's
a little (well, quite a bit) gnarlier than that band, laden with
twisted vocalizations, and there's certainly less of a pop
sensibility to the sound. But it's a far more interesting marriage
between dark pop and black metal, and all in all it's a more
satisfying record. Let's see if this gives Lifelover
the success they deserve.
tags: lifelover, pulver, 2006, flac,