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Baptizing your debut album to carry the name "Commercial Suicide" tells us pretty much what the band had in mind when writing the music for it. Alpha Safari is quite well-known to many people already even before having released anything at all simply because of the members' past. The four participating musicians are all very experienced in their respective fields. Here we find vocalist and song writer Patrik Wirén from disfunct Swedish grammy award winners and industrial rockers Misery Loves Co., guitarist Ulf Cederlund (Entombed, Disfear) and bassist Patrik Thorngren and drummer Olle Dahlstedt who were both part of the touring line-up of Misery Loves Co.. Alpha Safari was conceived in the year 2000 but then under a different name Washoe, a name that was abandoned when they discovered the native American tribe. Those of you who have an interest outside music might also find it interesting that Olle Dahlstedt will be performing drums for famous Swedish comedian Jonas Gardell and Patrik Wirén also works for the biggest Swedish metal magazine Close-Up.
As I mentioned in the very first sentence of this review, and just before you had become bored, there is a thought behind a title like "Commercial Suicide". The music presented here is far from what anyone would have expected from these musicians. Instead of industrial rock or death metal or hardcore or punk or anything else this album is more in line with American independent rock music á la Sonic Youth. There is also a slight touch of the softer, more melancholic side of latter day Katatonia present. The promo sheet from the label states that "choosing the easiest paths is perhaps the smartest thing to to from a commercial point of view, but life is too short to care about things like that". That is a common misconception today. Choosing the easiest paths probably means the same things as following trends and copying others (it usually does). Bands who have become successful lately such as Cradle Of Filth, Dimmu Borgir, Opeth and Evergrey to mention a few, have definitely not followed the easiest paths but carved out their own sound after many years of hard work.
"Commercial Suicide" has a few bright spots but those are indeed very few and mostly consist of vocalist Patrik Wirén doing his more melodic choruses. Musically this was not expected but it is not very interesting either, at least not very often. There are many bands who populate this genre already and Alpha Safari will unfortunately drown in the sea I am afraid, at least if they do not come up with something new for the follow-up album even though I doubt there will be one. The punk-ish attitude might be appreciated by a few punk rock fans and indie boys and girls may be attracted by the slightly rough melancholy. I know I am not.
| Tracklist |
| 1. Outsing The Pigs |
| 2. Disappear |
| 3. Doing It Because I Can |
| 4. Commercial Suicide |
| 5. The Next Attack |
| 6. Björklinge |
| 7. Almost Alright |
| 8. Borderline |
| 9. As The City Falls On My Feet |
| 10. Airplanes |
| 11. Go |
| 12. Teenage Stupidity |
: 40.50
| Buy other Alpha Safari albums |
