 |
|
|
Beseech
Drama
|
|
|
|
|
Well, this was a pleasant surprise. I had heard a couple of songs from these Swedish rockers before from their last release,
Souls Highway
. They were good, chunky, had a little groove, a nice beauty and the beast vocal balance and, c’mon, they covered Abba’s “Gimme Gimme Gimme” how funky is that?
Still, I never got around to getting the album. Like I said, what I heard was good, but it just didn’t hook me enough to warrant dropping the dough. Drama, however, is a whole different story.
There is both the unique and the familiar on Drama. Songs have delicious hooks that keep you constantly playing them over and over, yet at the same time there’s actual depth, something a lot of goth-rock can lack in its attempt to woo listeners in as quickly as possible. While on the surface, the lyrics sometimes appear the typical love lost, love gained, love used fare, there’s more underneath. Far from ignorant religion bashing, “Addicted” calls for humanity’s respect for the earth and less for blind faith.
Some of the songs, such as “Higher Level”, stow the deep thought and get us back to our “baser” tendencies: “Get down on your knees when I command. Lay back and take what’s yours to have. I know exactly what to do to reach a higher level of you.”
All of this is wrapped in the voices of Erik Molarin and Lotta Höglin, who are really the centerpieces of this album. Whereas the male/female vocal back and forths for some, such as current “it” band Lacuna Coil, have a tendency to feel contrived, there is actually a lyrical reason for Molarin and Höglin to be dueling it out, be it over one woman’s desire to be with her lover, her god, or for one man to feel the sting of his own rejection. Neither vocalist carries the other, be it on their looks or their voices. Molarin moves from mid range vocals to dark croons akin to Peter Steele and even ekes out some ambient growls for one song. Höglin all at once has a voice slightly familiar yet wholly unique. Her harmonies are sensual and striking and it’s a shame they, like the rest of this band, have not attained the deserved limelight of some contemporaries.
With exception to “Come on in”, which admittedly sounds a cross between Lacuna Coil and Tiamat, Beseech, and Drama is a very distinctive experience. It’s heavy, moody, slick and hip and ends far, far too quickly. Guaranteed to be in your CD Player for weeks. It’s still in mine.
Release Date: August 03, 2004
Tracks: 8 - Time: 40:10
Produced by: Beseech & Christian Silver
Format: CD
Website: www.beseech.net
Track Listing:
Drama / Higher Level / Voices / Forever Falling / Bitch / Addicted / Come On In / Friend Emptiness.
Beseech:
Erik Molarin - Male Vocals
Lotta Höglin - Female Vocals
Robert Vindervin - Guitars
Mikael Back - Keyboards
Daniel Elofsson - Bass
Jonas Strömberg - Drums
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
