Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Review from Ragnarök Radio (UK)
Rating 4/5
I’ll get it out of the way right from the start - Switch Opens are a Swedish metal band. Yeah, I know, you’re probably scuttling for cover toward the stereotype of all those identical ‘Gothenburg scene’ melodic death metal bands…but fear not. To start with, Switch Opens are from Stockholm, some 300 miles away from Gothenburg. And when it comes to metal, their sound too is a comparable distance away.
No, this isn’t another melodeath screamathon. To be honest, I’m not entirely sure what it is. It’s really quite fascinating to dream up a list of Switch Opens’ probable influences while listening through this album - they create a haze of fuzz that screams Kyuss, but some of their riffs sound more rooted in Southern Metal, with the likes of Down or Corrosion of Conformity. Their down ’n’ dirty groove kind of puts you in mind of Motörhead, albeit a more doomy Motörhead, maybe on Valium…and on top of that, they appear to share a name with a Soundgarden song. Putting all of that together, I suppose, makes this seem like the work of hairy stoners.
Before we delve further into that, a clarifying note; this technically isn’t the first album from Switch Opens. They released two others under the name ‘Fingerspitzengefühl’, before opting for a change of moniker as well as record company for this release. Probably a good move, as frankly a band with an utterly unpronounceable name playing weird psychedelic metal isn’t going to be conquering the world. How are they going to woo the crowd when they‘ve scored that big support slot? “Hello Stockholm, we’re Fingerspitzengefühl! No, Fingerspitzengefühl. F, i, n, g…”. It’s no surprise their old Myspace only attracted 2,000 fans.
Anyway, I was mumbling something about hairy stoners…it’s true that Switch Opens make noises like they live in a permanent cloud of pot. But a lot of the time there’s also something a lot more intelligent going on in their music. They combine the fuzz and bassy grit of stoner bands like Kyuss and all those mentioned above with the more progressive leanings of Mastodon or Opeth. There’s something bold and creative lurking in Switch Opens, and not bold and creative in that hairy-stoner way. Which usually seems to involve crisps.
The musicianship throughout is proficient, but with no offence meant to drummer Anders Bartonek and guitarists Thomas Bergstrand and Mikael Tuominen, I’d like to single out one member of the band. Vocalist (and bassist) Jesper Skarin puts in a fantastically diverse performance, melding seamlessly from melodic clean singing in songs like ’Express Death’ and ’The Electric Hour’ to frankly mad growled phases, such as in ‘Paper Walls’. The latter shows perhaps the most progressive side of the band - it features a weird, growling intro, building into a fast, heavy verse riff and bizarre chorus, with Skarin still roaring away convincingly. However, all of a sudden there’s an almost tranquil acoustic interlude, complete with synth strings, before the fuzz distortion kicks back in through the lead guitar and we end with heavy riffage again. Mad.
That song is put side-by-side with ‘He Dives Down’, which is much more straightforward and frankly groove-based - it basically sounds like Orange Gobin with a theremin intro - and for a second, you almost wonder if you’re listening to the same band. Only Skarin’s distinctive vocals and that fuzzy sound that’s starting to become familiar by that point keep you right. Switch Opens can go through a terrific amount of ideas just in the space of a single song, as I might have alluded to earlier when describing ’Paper Walls’, and this is noticeable in most other tracks on the album; go get lost in the nine-minute expanse of ’Terra Incognita’, for a further example. At times, it almost seems like they’re trying too many different things - I often decry the lack of imagination and inspiration in albums, but it’s also good when a band actually know what style they’re gunning for. That said, I think Switch Opens just about do enough to restrain that rampaging creative beast at their heart and present a unified front - no matter what kind of madness they’re weaving, you really can tell it’s the same band.
Alright, before we wrap this thing up, I’d better apologise to Sweden. I know they’ve brought us more than just melodic death metal, which I don‘t actually have any beef with. In fact, they’ve done very well indeed for a country shaped like a penis. There’s a proud tradition of cracking Swedish bands - Amon Amarth, Opeth and Meshuggah kind of speak for themselves. This album is a bit mad, and at times a bit disjointed, top-heavy with ideas, but Switch Opens have a bit of creativity about them, and are trying something different. As such, I’d definitely say they have the potential to someday be joining that list of luminary Swedes.
- Phil Sim
Ragnarök Radio
I’ll get it out of the way right from the start - Switch Opens are a Swedish metal band. Yeah, I know, you’re probably scuttling for cover toward the stereotype of all those identical ‘Gothenburg scene’ melodic death metal bands…but fear not. To start with, Switch Opens are from Stockholm, some 300 miles away from Gothenburg. And when it comes to metal, their sound too is a comparable distance away.
No, this isn’t another melodeath screamathon. To be honest, I’m not entirely sure what it is. It’s really quite fascinating to dream up a list of Switch Opens’ probable influences while listening through this album - they create a haze of fuzz that screams Kyuss, but some of their riffs sound more rooted in Southern Metal, with the likes of Down or Corrosion of Conformity. Their down ’n’ dirty groove kind of puts you in mind of Motörhead, albeit a more doomy Motörhead, maybe on Valium…and on top of that, they appear to share a name with a Soundgarden song. Putting all of that together, I suppose, makes this seem like the work of hairy stoners.
Before we delve further into that, a clarifying note; this technically isn’t the first album from Switch Opens. They released two others under the name ‘Fingerspitzengefühl’, before opting for a change of moniker as well as record company for this release. Probably a good move, as frankly a band with an utterly unpronounceable name playing weird psychedelic metal isn’t going to be conquering the world. How are they going to woo the crowd when they‘ve scored that big support slot? “Hello Stockholm, we’re Fingerspitzengefühl! No, Fingerspitzengefühl. F, i, n, g…”. It’s no surprise their old Myspace only attracted 2,000 fans.
Anyway, I was mumbling something about hairy stoners…it’s true that Switch Opens make noises like they live in a permanent cloud of pot. But a lot of the time there’s also something a lot more intelligent going on in their music. They combine the fuzz and bassy grit of stoner bands like Kyuss and all those mentioned above with the more progressive leanings of Mastodon or Opeth. There’s something bold and creative lurking in Switch Opens, and not bold and creative in that hairy-stoner way. Which usually seems to involve crisps.
The musicianship throughout is proficient, but with no offence meant to drummer Anders Bartonek and guitarists Thomas Bergstrand and Mikael Tuominen, I’d like to single out one member of the band. Vocalist (and bassist) Jesper Skarin puts in a fantastically diverse performance, melding seamlessly from melodic clean singing in songs like ’Express Death’ and ’The Electric Hour’ to frankly mad growled phases, such as in ‘Paper Walls’. The latter shows perhaps the most progressive side of the band - it features a weird, growling intro, building into a fast, heavy verse riff and bizarre chorus, with Skarin still roaring away convincingly. However, all of a sudden there’s an almost tranquil acoustic interlude, complete with synth strings, before the fuzz distortion kicks back in through the lead guitar and we end with heavy riffage again. Mad.
That song is put side-by-side with ‘He Dives Down’, which is much more straightforward and frankly groove-based - it basically sounds like Orange Gobin with a theremin intro - and for a second, you almost wonder if you’re listening to the same band. Only Skarin’s distinctive vocals and that fuzzy sound that’s starting to become familiar by that point keep you right. Switch Opens can go through a terrific amount of ideas just in the space of a single song, as I might have alluded to earlier when describing ’Paper Walls’, and this is noticeable in most other tracks on the album; go get lost in the nine-minute expanse of ’Terra Incognita’, for a further example. At times, it almost seems like they’re trying too many different things - I often decry the lack of imagination and inspiration in albums, but it’s also good when a band actually know what style they’re gunning for. That said, I think Switch Opens just about do enough to restrain that rampaging creative beast at their heart and present a unified front - no matter what kind of madness they’re weaving, you really can tell it’s the same band.
Alright, before we wrap this thing up, I’d better apologise to Sweden. I know they’ve brought us more than just melodic death metal, which I don‘t actually have any beef with. In fact, they’ve done very well indeed for a country shaped like a penis. There’s a proud tradition of cracking Swedish bands - Amon Amarth, Opeth and Meshuggah kind of speak for themselves. This album is a bit mad, and at times a bit disjointed, top-heavy with ideas, but Switch Opens have a bit of creativity about them, and are trying something different. As such, I’d definitely say they have the potential to someday be joining that list of luminary Swedes.
- Phil Sim
Ragnarök Radio
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Review from Ultimate Metal (Canada)
Really fuzzy metal is on offer that raises a pulse. It has enough to groove to carry out its intentions and make your head spin. The song “Paper Walls” features a really cool build up that gradually increases in intensity in a really cool fashion. There’s a difficult to define quality that overwhelms this band and makes them that much more interesting to appreciate. The groovy nature of the work almost gives it a doom-like vibe, though I wouldn’t place it directly into that genre. Also to be found are some elements that liken them to stoner bands like Kyuss quite effectively, although I’m not sure if I’d put Switch Opens at quite the same level as them.
There are enough distortion laden soundscapes to make one’s head spin and I mean this in a positive fashion. The sound this band portrays is quite solid in its delivery. The difficulty to pin down their traits makes Switch Opens an interesting outfit that has a one of a kind approach to show to the world. They maintain their musical performances at a consistent rate and show the ability to pull everything together. A lower point for the work is that the vocals don’t sound as smooth and appropriate as they could although they match with the music reasonably well. However, the acoustic moments that are interspersed within work great and I wish there were even more to be found.
Overall, Switch Opens is dense and likeable and I hope there’s much more to come from the outfit in the future. The groove-laden nature of the work elevates it into a higher territory and makes it worthy of multiple listens and great appreciation on the part of the listener.
- Adam McAuley
Ultimate Metal
There are enough distortion laden soundscapes to make one’s head spin and I mean this in a positive fashion. The sound this band portrays is quite solid in its delivery. The difficulty to pin down their traits makes Switch Opens an interesting outfit that has a one of a kind approach to show to the world. They maintain their musical performances at a consistent rate and show the ability to pull everything together. A lower point for the work is that the vocals don’t sound as smooth and appropriate as they could although they match with the music reasonably well. However, the acoustic moments that are interspersed within work great and I wish there were even more to be found.
Overall, Switch Opens is dense and likeable and I hope there’s much more to come from the outfit in the future. The groove-laden nature of the work elevates it into a higher territory and makes it worthy of multiple listens and great appreciation on the part of the listener.
- Adam McAuley
Ultimate Metal
Review from Zware Metalen (Holland)
Rating: 84/100
De naam Switch Opens zegt weinig mensen iets denk ik, hoewel sommigen de link zullen leggen met het gelijknamige nummer van Soundgarden. Als ik zeg dat deze Zweedse band het vervolg is op Fingerspitzengefühl, dat al twee albums uitbracht, dan zal er ook maar bij weinig mensen een lichtje opgaan. Logische naamwissel als je het mij vraagt, want ook al is het een internationaal gebruikt Duits woord, het bekt natuurlijk voor geen meter. Switch Opens maakt stoner, maar dan anders.
Want nee, dit is niet je huis-, tuin- en keukenstoner! De invloeden van Kyuss en aanverwanten zijn duidelijk aanwezig, toch doet de band als geheel totaal anders aan. Er wordt gebruik gemaakt van psychedelica, de nummers zijn vrij lang van opbouw, plus de invloeden van onder andere Mastodon en Tool komen al snel naar de oppervlakte, maar ook van wat loggere acts als Crowbar en Krux kun je de nodige knipogen verwachten. In het openingsnummer Express Death zit zelfs een stevige postpunk-feel, maar dan met een vet, bassige ondertoon. De bassist domineert het hele album trouwens met zijn ronkende, stuwende partijen, waardoor de riffs lekker massief je speakers uitrollen. Nóg een pluspunt is zanger Jesper Skarin, die zich met zijn veelzijdige stem knap aanpast aan de muziek.
Aan de ene kant rockt dit "debuutalbum" als een tiet, aan de andere kant word je dus meerdere kanten op geslingerd. Nadeel in mijn ogen is dat de nummers af en toe wel wat bondiger hadden gemogen. Niet van je "don't bore us, get to the chorus", maar de vier heren slaan af en toe wel een klein beetje door in interessantdoenerij, waardoor de aandacht soms verslapt. Toch is dit een van de weinige kanttekeningen bij een ijzersterke, uiterst professionele en avontuurlijke plaat, die na meerdere luisterbeurten maar blijft groeien. Ze zijn ook niet voor niks ooit meegevraagd door Neurosis om als support act te fungeren. Goeie band!
- Robert de Leeuw
Zware Metalen.com
De naam Switch Opens zegt weinig mensen iets denk ik, hoewel sommigen de link zullen leggen met het gelijknamige nummer van Soundgarden. Als ik zeg dat deze Zweedse band het vervolg is op Fingerspitzengefühl, dat al twee albums uitbracht, dan zal er ook maar bij weinig mensen een lichtje opgaan. Logische naamwissel als je het mij vraagt, want ook al is het een internationaal gebruikt Duits woord, het bekt natuurlijk voor geen meter. Switch Opens maakt stoner, maar dan anders.
Want nee, dit is niet je huis-, tuin- en keukenstoner! De invloeden van Kyuss en aanverwanten zijn duidelijk aanwezig, toch doet de band als geheel totaal anders aan. Er wordt gebruik gemaakt van psychedelica, de nummers zijn vrij lang van opbouw, plus de invloeden van onder andere Mastodon en Tool komen al snel naar de oppervlakte, maar ook van wat loggere acts als Crowbar en Krux kun je de nodige knipogen verwachten. In het openingsnummer Express Death zit zelfs een stevige postpunk-feel, maar dan met een vet, bassige ondertoon. De bassist domineert het hele album trouwens met zijn ronkende, stuwende partijen, waardoor de riffs lekker massief je speakers uitrollen. Nóg een pluspunt is zanger Jesper Skarin, die zich met zijn veelzijdige stem knap aanpast aan de muziek.
Aan de ene kant rockt dit "debuutalbum" als een tiet, aan de andere kant word je dus meerdere kanten op geslingerd. Nadeel in mijn ogen is dat de nummers af en toe wel wat bondiger hadden gemogen. Niet van je "don't bore us, get to the chorus", maar de vier heren slaan af en toe wel een klein beetje door in interessantdoenerij, waardoor de aandacht soms verslapt. Toch is dit een van de weinige kanttekeningen bij een ijzersterke, uiterst professionele en avontuurlijke plaat, die na meerdere luisterbeurten maar blijft groeien. Ze zijn ook niet voor niks ooit meegevraagd door Neurosis om als support act te fungeren. Goeie band!
- Robert de Leeuw
Zware Metalen.com
Friday, January 22, 2010
P3 Rock Listener's Poll
1. Mastodon - Crack The Skye
2. Alice In Chains - Black Gives Way To Blue
3. Thåström - Kärlek är för dom
4. Candlemass - Death Magic Doom
5. Porcupine Tree - The Incident
6. Lamb Of God - Wrath
7. Slayer - World Painted Blood
8. Behemoth - Evangelion
9. Them Crooked Vultures - Them Crooked Vultures
10. Hardcore Superstar - Beg For It
11. Switch Opens - Switch Opens
12. Scar Symmetry - Dark Matter Dimensions
13. Katatonia - Night Is The New Day
14. Wolfmother - Cosmic Egg
15. Devil's Blood - The Time Of No Time Evermore
P3 Rock
2. Alice In Chains - Black Gives Way To Blue
3. Thåström - Kärlek är för dom
4. Candlemass - Death Magic Doom
5. Porcupine Tree - The Incident
6. Lamb Of God - Wrath
7. Slayer - World Painted Blood
8. Behemoth - Evangelion
9. Them Crooked Vultures - Them Crooked Vultures
10. Hardcore Superstar - Beg For It
11. Switch Opens - Switch Opens
12. Scar Symmetry - Dark Matter Dimensions
13. Katatonia - Night Is The New Day
14. Wolfmother - Cosmic Egg
15. Devil's Blood - The Time Of No Time Evermore
P3 Rock
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Interview with Micke at Metal Team UK
Two albums, no recognition and with a name change later the band that was Fingerspitzengefühl have managed to capture the ears of critics and music fans across Europe with their latest album as Switch Opens. As you can guess it hasn't been an easy slog. The progressive sound of the band along with a head spinning moniker may have instantly put off the more casual listener. But having been championed in part by Neurosis and putting out one of the better releases of 2009, the band have found finally their feet with recognition and an award nomination in their native Sweden with a view to taking the band Europewide. I caught up with guitarist Mikael Tuominen, to ask a few him a few questions.
Read the interview at Metal Team UK.
Read the interview at Metal Team UK.
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