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It has been an extremely long, tiring day and I'm finally at home, surrounded by my cats and ready to relax myself with putting some words online. Usually, I post stuff on the blog in the morning hours while drinking coffee, but this one seems like a good night snack.
You should all be well introduced to "Alenah" by now, since this is a band that has been featured on this blog quite a long time ago, actually during its early days when I wasn't acting all smart and writing a wall of text per every post. Yes, this Swedish quintet is still going strong and when Oscar from the band wrote to me about posting this single I immediately went back to check out my review of their previous release, "Sotiga Liljor I Seine". And damn, was that a shitty "review"...yet the dudes enjoyed it, so big hugs for the shown thankfulness. Usually I'd say "yay go back and check it out", but this time you might as well skip it. But what the heck, you might just check it out for the band's sake, so head along and read it here.
Anyways as I mentioned above, "Alenah" prepared for us a single which came out this April. Consisting of two songs, this release really reminded me how good and underrated this band really is. Prior to taking a listen to the single now, I re-listened to their first recording and it once again managed to spark that certain amazement from yours truly. The release was fast, aggressive and rushing past you in a crazy whirlwind of sound, making you want to either break something due to the adrenalin surge or just scream along to the songs. It had a superbly clean sound which the members used to show us just how technical they can be, even amid total chaos. As for "Mitt Waterloo", the quality, uniqueness and the technical aspect were transferred from their predecessor. The thing that is somewhat different is the introduction of the slightly different style of composition. While the second song on the release, "Ett Dödsdatum Satt", provides the well known speedy melody and rushing riffs of "Alenah", the first song bears new traits. Named after the release itself, "Mitt Waterloo" starts out with a slow muted guitar and sounds which you can hardly make out, going between a distant scream and scratchy distortion. Soon it all goes nuts and explodes with insanely catchy riffs and that amazing vocal performance which I enjoy so much. The song goes fast and furious with everything from pounding melodies and pack screaming, until it reaches the middle when tone drops and the vocal is left alone. Explosion again. Vocal alone again. Explosion again and after that, the same melody returns back, but this time somehow stretched and slower, in the end going so far as to becoming completely sluggish and acquires a really melancholic tone while the vocal remains aggressive.
Maybe it's just me thinking way too much about the music I listen to, but this seems like a bit of an experimentation moment on the band's side. Which I fully approve, since it sounds great, especially because it caught me completely off guard due to the fact that they left an impression in my head of a "fast" band with their previous release, the song "Vindspel" being a sort of signature track for me. Of course, they had slower sections, but I guess that they were overshadowed with the other more "in your face" tones or samples and didn't have enough space to leave an impact. "Mitt Waterloo" really managed to mark its presence with a certain emotion and mood, at the same time continuing what the band was known for and somewhat providing a bit of an evolution in the process.
I haven't heard from the dudes since April (NOTE: because you didn't reply to them, idiot), but as much as good old Last.fm says they had a gig recently, meaning they are still very much alive and kicking. The guys in the band are still young and the band itself is quite fresh, thus it would be amazing to see their future work and see what more they can throw at us. In the meantime, check them out and enjoy!
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