Chaotic Waves - Felix Bada/Severe Head Trauma
By Art Cain
Do you remember the first time you heard Marilyn Manson? Probably not, because, as interesting an artist as he maybe, for most of his shocks he's relied heavily on visuals outlining a simple truth - rock music rarely provokes fear or apprehension, regardless of its pretensions to do so. Kiss, Alice Cooper etc the list goes on and on of horror merchants whose music would be hard pushed to make all but the most fragile of hearts race.
It is, then, rare to put on a rock/pop record that makes you nervous - full points then to Felix Bada, Gothic songwriter who manages to make the hairs stand up on the back of the neck , and not just for the corny d.i.y. drumbeats on his self-produced album under the moniker Severe Head Trauma. No, the first track 'Intruder' is out there in all senses - rich, lush, and more than a little deranged, and yet at the same time compulsive listening. Bada's voice, deep and dramatic, more than makes up for the doom+gloom-by-numbers lyrics ("Ashes fall from the burning dove, ashes from this old corpse of love" or "Fire from hell shall not consume, body and soul of me and you") .
The lyrics may be - unintentionally - laughable, but the music is powerful, original, and not just a little bit deranged. There's more than a little bit of bowie going on here, from the vocal inflections through to the self-mythologising, which is all good - coupled with a heavy electronic/goth fusion that knows how to build up and tear down a song.
From the songs on display a number of criticisms come through, though. We've touched on the lyrics already - while there's plenty of imagination going on musically, the lyrics tend always towards stock-standard conceits and imagery (Rule #1 if you're in a goth band that wants to stand out, try purging your songs of all references to 'temptation','hell', and above all else 'soul'). The band's sound is both it's strength and acchiles foot - rich, layered, seering and soaring, it establishes itself as original and defining, but it's overused - some songs that veer away from the sound are desparately needed, if only to highlight how original it is.
The most obvious blemish, though, are the self-consciously high-in-the-mix drumbeats, obviously lovingly programmed but placed annoyingly between the listener's ears in danger of obscuring the substance of the songs.
The good news, though, are that these are all things that are easily fixed, probably by a good producer able to hone in on the things that make Bada original, and chilling.
Printable
version |
Email this review |
Send comments
Digg
this review | Add
this review to del.icio.us | Add
this article to reddit | Add
this review to google bookmarks
Other Stories
These articles from Three Monkeys Online may interest you.We need to talk about Kevin - Lionel Shriver in interview
We need to talk about Kevin has deservedly placed Lionel Shriver on the shortlist for this year's Orange Prize shortlist. The American writer discusses the relationship between art and violence, feminism and publishing, and defends her decision to write about a columbine style shooting.
Memories, Fight and Fantasy at the Hand of the Great Superhero of the Spanish Narrative - Isabel Allende in interview
Isabel Allende is one of Latin America's most celebrated novelists - no mean feat considering the competition and the challenges faced writing as a woman in an implicity chauvinist society. Her work, now justifiably celebrated world wide, concerns itself with justice, memory, feminism, and magic. He
Deals in luck and despair, Delorentos in profile
Dublin band the Delorentos are riding high in the limelight, with a nomination for both best Irish band of 2008, and best Irish album of 2008 for in love with detail. Brendan Coffey met up with guitarist Ronan Yourell, to talk abou the band's past,present, and future
From Landscape to Manscape - Eduardo Chillida and Fuerteventura's Tindaya Mountain
It’s big; it’s a thumb-in-your eye assault on a virgin landscape, but is it art? Well, yes, it is actually, and that’s where the problem lies The late Basque sculptor Eduardo Chillida envisaged creating a monumental hollowed out space in the heart of Mt. Tindaya, a project that would be h
Reproduction of material from any ThreeMonkeysOnline pages without written permission is strictly prohibited
Copyright © ThreeMonkeysOnline.com
All rights reserved. ThreeMonkeysOnline
