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Standards-rejecters Solefald didn´t have enough when they blasted the world with their debut album and this is the second coming. “Neonism” continues the innovative stream Solefald stands for, so the sonic concept of the band is therefore strengthened and polished in “Neonism”. The CD comes embodied in a strange plastic case, sort of a digipack with a fringe. Eerie and avantgarde are possible adjectives to describe the artwork, that little girl with dour eyes and a gaze lost in an unknown horizon. The same way the first album was started with a cheerful bombastic tune as “Jernlov”, “Fluorescent” awakes the dreams and nightmares with a pounding storm of beats and notes, aggresive and deeply melodic. “Neonism” shows the classical Solefald style, metal mostly swimming in the black lake but raiding into keyboard evocative passages, and not afraid of courageous invasions into other spiky beds. Clean voices, frenzied high-pitched screams, violent rhythms, rollercoaster song patterns, disturbing mid-tempos. Hard to digest, isn´t it? Some things must be experienced to grasp all their essence, and music like this is one of those. Therefore, everyone is warned about songs as “Speed Increased To Scaffold”, which surprises the listener with a passage where vocals are the rap kind, and honestly I must admit it´s not unfitting whatsoever (despite my hate towards rap and hip hop is really huge). This song also features some electronic drum beats, bizarre as hell, as you could expect from these guys. Discordant landscapes can be found at “The New Timelessness”. “CK II Chanel Nº 6” is groovy and has got a psychedelic synth-based chorus. Simply fantastic! “Omnipolis” exhibits a freak-show-like diatribe in French able to make you baffle. Each song is a world apart. Lyrics and songtitles are also shocking and grotesque. Go ahead and stumble upon sentences as “Coco Chanel / Welcome to hell”. Are more examples necessary? After all, this is one of the things I appreciate the most from this duo: poetry. Brave, modern, different. Too bad the production is a bit unclean most of the times. Quite weird is the fact Sunlight Studios (cradle of classic Swedish death metal albums from bands as Entombed or Dismember) were the chosen ones to record these songs. Apparently it was not the best movement, since the results partially spoil the whole masterpiece. Each instrument is recognizable although the mix often falls in a sonic flurry where the low frequencies are slightly swollen. Nevertheless, the sound is good enough to taste “Neonism” as the superb album it is.
| Tracklist |
| 1. Fluorescent (The Total Orchestra) |
| 2. Speed Increased To Scaffold |
| 3. CK II Chanel No 6 |
| 4. Proprietors Of Red |
| 5. A Motion Picture |
| 6. Omnipolis |
| 7. Backpacka Baba |
| 8. Third Person Plural |
| 9. 04.34 PM |
| 10. The New Timelessness |
: 50.18
| Buy other Solefald albums |
