Artist: Beardfish
Title: Mammoth
Genre: Progressive Rock
Release Date: 25th March 2011
Label: InsideOut/EMI
Album Review
BEARDFISH from Sweden have been captivated by the Prog rock sound of the ‘70’s - think of bands like KING CRIMSON, GENESIS, ELOY, singer-songwriter FRANK ZAPPA and you’ll get the picture because this band is retro to boot, the only attempt at modernising you might find in the second track ‘And The Stone Said: If I Could Speak’ which sounds little bit of James Maynard Keenan’s TOOL dramatics thrown on retro Prog background. You just can’t escape that ‘70’s sound!!! That includes the lengthiness of the tracks too, Sjöblom, BEARDFISH songwriter puts it down to being able to have more freedom. But the freedom seems wasted here; the freedom is there only to recreate an era gone, but certainly not to innovate. I will however say that the saxophone at the ending of the song blending into guitar was probably the best moment on the album and will applaud that. On the sixth track ‘Akakabotu’ though it gets to sound a tad tedious as there’s not much there to create a contrast so you start to feel you’ve been put on hold by some government agency you’ve had to phone up or you’ve ended up in some super jazzy joint, playing it so they can get you out of the door and close up. The few Prog resuscitation attempts fail; you’ve been bored to death already.
It’s quite mind boggling how with all that talk about artistic freedom their lyrics sound terribly simple, but then the album title came out from watching kid’s cartoons with their guitarist enthusing “I love Mammoths. They are probably my favourite animals“. By the way they’ve also discovered that humans are self-destructive, they like to tell us we’re going to make ourselves as extinct as their totem animal. The parallels they try to draw between that time and ours keep on being rather simplistic and yawn-producing. Zackrisson also added, “Nobody knows which of our animals will survive because things get rather cold.” Cockroaches are a safe bet. And whilst we must worry about the polar ice caps melting and global warming, we have to be on a look out for the next Ice Age already as well. Or just enjoy the doomsday prophesising, I guess. This is just great for those super nostalgic fans of Prog rock, who want to be thrown back in time without having to delve into the classics of the trend yet again. Anybody who expects more will be only disappointed. Personally I belong to the latter category and prefer the Prog rock bands with a more modern sound and more challenge.
Tracklist
01. The Platform – 8.06
02. And The Stone Said: If I Could Speak – 15.07
03. Tightrope – 4.33
04. Green Waves – 8.53
05. Outside / Inside – 1.43
06. Akakabotu – 5.41
07. Without Saying Anything feat. Ventriloquist – 8.10
Line-up
Rikard Sjöblom – Vocals, guitars, keyboards, percussion
David Zackrisson – Guitars, backing vocals, keyboard
Robert Hansen – Bass, backing vocals
Magnus Östgren – Drums
Websites
http://www.beardfish.argh.se/ / http://www.myspace.com/beardfishband
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 5
Sound: 6
Total:5.5 /10
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