Review from Blistering.com (Canada)

Rating: 8,5/10

Although this release marks the debut effort for Switch Opens, a little further investigation reveals that this Stockholm-based act actually started out under the name of Fingerspitzengefühl. But after two full-length albums (2004’s self-titled effort and 2006’s Happy Doomsday), the group soon realised that if they were ever going to be accepted on a world scale, a change of name was called for.

Three years on, and the newly named Switch Opens (comprising of vocalist/bassist Jesper Skarin, guitarists Tomas Bergstrand and Mikael Tuominen and drummer Anders Bartonek) have returned with their latest effort, and once again it’s a strange journey through a whole host of sounds and influences that are difficult to pigeonhole into any one particular genre box.

If you were to lump a broad musical tag on this group, it would most likely be stoner rock. But Switch Opens aren’t what you would call the average stoner rock band in the vein of Kyuss, early Monster Magnet or early Queens Of The Stone Age. While there are some similarities with the mentioned acts, Switch Opens does manage to incorporate a greater sense of experimentalism into their sound, with touches of psychedelic rock, progressive rock and even a bit of punk being incorporated into their overall sound. While on paper it sounds like a complete mess, on CD, Switch Opens manage to make it work like a charm.

The opening track “Express Death” certainly lives up to part of its name, with the bass leading the charge in terms of a fast tempo. The swirling guitars provide some nice sounding space-like effects in the background, while Skarin’s vocals provide enough melody and aggression to give the song a strong sense of catchiness.

Despite its length, the slower and more Mastodon-like “Pyramids” is a strong track, with the band providing enough twists and turns throughout to keep things interesting, while raucous and rather impressive “Paper Walls” introduces a greater punk rock edge to the band’s sound, before transforming into a huge riffing space rock extravaganza for its concluding half.

“He Dives Down” is by far the most experimental and eclectic offering on the album, with twin harmonised guitars, acoustic guitars and a rumbling bass line throughout pitted against distorted vocals, while the shorter Black Sabbath riffed “Lucky Me, Lucky You” is a huge ball of energetic rock.

While most of the album works, there are a couple of tracks that don’t quite measure up. At just over nine minutes long, “Terra Incognita” tends to drag on a little (even if it does have some great ideas), while “Super Globe Of Pain” is a little plodding in places. But despite a couple of less than stellar moments, the band finishes up the album in a strong manner with the rocking “The Electric Hour.”

Unlike a lot of stoner acts, Switch Opens manage to think outside the box, and incorporate a whole host of influences into their sound, making them one of the most interesting acts within the scene. Switch Opens’ debut may not be entirely consistent from start to finish, but there’s more than enough here to make it interesting and worth checking out.

By: Justin Donnelly

Blistering.com