Paatos - Kallocain


Year of Release: 2004
Label: Inside Out
Catalog Number: IOMCD169/ IOMSECD169
Format: CD
Total Time: 51:29:00

To be honest, I wasn't really sure whether at all Inside Out was the ideal record company for a band like Paatos. Whilst their debut Timeloss was still searching for the right way, with Kallocain the stereotype progressive road has been replaced by impossible to catch musical sidesteps that seem to fit best with a band such as Portishead. The voice of Petronella Nettermalm remains the sign-board around which the current Paatos household is built. If there's a form of aggression to be found in her voice, then the rest of the band will follow in her footsteps immediately. If that same voice suddenly becomes a sugarsweet cascade of modest intonations then the arrangement is changed accordingly. Gypsy violin and Mellotron are just two instruments that are able to illustrate those moodswings. This makes Kallocain an impressive piece of work that you'd better approach like a pure classical piece of music. In other words, this is not the kind of music you'd put on when you have to prepare dinner at the same time or when you need to put the kids in the bath. Putting Kallocain under the laser means putting out the TV, pulling the telephone out of its plug, turning the mobile phone off, putting all the lights out, getting some candles out and, together with a bottle of velvet-soft red wine you kept from your previous holidays in France, just sitting back and listening. "Enjoy" is the keyword here to perfectly describe this new Paatos album. Enjoy intensely as you do with a track such as "Holding On," which has Petronella caress your eardrums. Nevertheless, Paatos has that unique ability to lead a certain form of commercial input right through the heart of their exclusive music, which is proven here by the very strong melody in "Happiness." A shorter version without the long intro could be perfect for daytime radio! Also the acoustic simplicity of "Look At Us" sounds ever so recognizable. I already mentioned the name Portishead and if there's one song on this new Kallocain album which fits this name like a glove it most certainly has to be "Reality." Especially, the use of inventive beats leads you to that original street that finally reaches a dead end right at lake Mellotron. The final song, "In Time," illustrates that you can be well dressed using very little fabric. Here Petronella's voice swims through a very thin arrangement where sounds are used in a very economic way. There are so many surprises tucked away into Paatos' treasure chest that each time you listen to this album new elements pop up. After the entire media jumped up when hearing Timeloss, no doubt a lot of so called "connoisseurs" of the very first hour will drop out supporting Paatos, but if you take the time to scratch with your nail under the tiny layer of peeled off varnish you could well have found a new love with Paatos. Eternal love!

Released in North America by InsideOut Music America


Tracklisting:
Gasoline (5:55) / Holding On (5:00) / Happiness (5:20) / Absinth Minded (4:49) / Look At Us (5:25) / Reality (7:37) / Stream (5:17) / Won't Be Coming Back (5:32) / In Time (6:34)

Bonus DVD (special edition only): Won't Be Coming Back / Gasoline / Reality / Hypnotique

Musicians:
Petronella Nettermalm - vocals, cello
Ricard Nettermalm - drums, saw and delay
Reine Fiske - guitar
Stefan Dimle - bass, double bass
Johan Wallen - piano, Mellotron, Hammond organ, syntheziser, sampler, harmonium

Discography:
"Perception/Tea" (2001)
Timeloss (2002)
Kallocain (2004)
Silence Of Another Kind (2006) Sensors (2007)
Breathing (2011)
V (2012)

Genre: Progressive Rock

Origin SE

Added: August 1st 2004
Reviewer: John "Bobo" Bollenberg

Artist website: www.paatos.com
Hits: 2568
Language: english

  

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