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Passenger is a new Swedish constellation whose members are
probably well-known to many of you already. They are Anders Fridén (In Flames)
on vocals, Niclas Engelin (Gardenian) on guitars, Håkan Skoger
(Gardenian) on bass and Patrik J. Sten (Transport League) on drums. This is
actually an all-Gothenburg production. The artwork was done by Dark
Tranquillity's Niklas Sundin, the photos for the album were taken by Snowy
Shaw (King Diamond, Notre Dame, Dream Evil etc.) and the music was recorded at
Studio Fredman where their drummer also works as a sound engineer. Passenger
is not really a new band since they started working on this material already
back in 1995/96 but it wasn't until the year 2000 that they began taking the
project real serious. Their ambition was to mix heavy, groovy tunes with the
sound of pop / rock bands like Chum, Handsome, Helmet, Depeche Mode and The
Posies. Those of you who think that the latest release from In Flames was
nothing but pop music might want to think twice before buying the debut album
of Passenger. This sounds a little like a mix of newer Katatonia and newer In
Flames but with a stronger neo-metal vibe. Main ingrediences are clean and
slightly distorted vocals, catchy melodies, some sampling and a thick heavy
guitar groove. There are two possible reasons why Century Media has chosen to
sign this band. Either they noticed that there were some "famous" people in
the band or they want to become more of a mainstream label. By this I don't
mean that Passenger is a lousy band but quite the opposite; they are skilled
and experienced both as musicians and song writers. The problem however is
that this debut album of their's is rather uneven. A couple of songs are very
good such as the wonderful chorus of "Just The Same" but there are also some
songs that tend to be somewhat boring and monotonous. I also got the feel that
Anders Fridén is trying a little hard to sound like Marilyn Manson now and
then just to become the Linkin Park vocalist a while later. A solid first
effort from Passenger but nothing more and nothing less. Stand-out tracks:
"Just The Same", "Eyes Of My
Mind".
| Tracklist |
1. In Reverse 2. In My Head |
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3. For You 4. Just The Same 5. Carnival Diaries 6. |
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Circus 7. Rain 8. Circles 9. I Die Slowly 10. |
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Used 11. Eyes Of My Mind |
: 42.36
| Buy other Passenger albums |
