Since their debut album, ‘Puls’, in 2013 this Stockholm-based trio have been fairly prolific, and I believe this is their fifth album, with the same line-up throughout, namely Love Andersson (vocals, bass, guitar), Andreas Hollstrand (guitar, keyboards, backing vocals), AW Wiberg (drums). I was trying to think who they reminded me of, and the best I can come up with is a heavy version of early Muse combined with Written By Wolves and possibly some Deftones thrown in for good measure, and a splash of djent here and there. It is an album designed to be played at very high volume, as then the listener is surrounded in a wall of sound, which hits the senses so hard that one might forget that this is massively over-produced, feels more like a pop album than a metal one, and the only thing cutting through the bass-led heaviness are the very clear and melodic vocals.
Each song does rather blur into the next, and after playing it a few times all I can remember about it are the impressions from above, as musically there is nothing here which makes me really want to go back and to listen to it again. For all the cleverness at play, it feels like they are attempting to push their music into areas where they believe they will be appreciated as opposed to allowing the musical juices to flow naturally. It all feels a little too contrived, and consequently suffers, as the result feels like throwaway plastic as opposed to something to be cherished and admired.
Rating: 5/10
Links:
https://portnoir.com/
https://www.insideoutmusic.com/