Orgasm

Ok, so maybe Kate Bush isn't... but Monika Edvardsen is, and she's equally bizarre.

For being Atrox's most accessible album, Orgasm is still pretty damn inaccessible. Listening to Monika sing is like being afflicted with A.D.D. and going through mood swings every 30 seconds, which actually comes across as a mostly tolerable and oddly enjoyable experience. Her voice twists and turns with the direction of the music, or a more accurate statement might be that the music flows around the erratic fluidity of her voice. She sings, shrieks, squeals, squeaks, wails, and hits all kinds of highs, lows, mids, lefts, and rights. She can be scary, soothing, tongue-in-cheek, dramatic, bipolar, melodic, chaotic... and sometimes all at once. Admittedly, Monika's vocal acrobatics are not quite as off the wall here as they are on albums like Contentum or Terrestrials, but they are sufficient to remove any doubts regarding her artistic state of mind.

While Monika could be considered the centerpiece here, the rest of the band is not to be overlooked. Many of the songs are driven by understated rhythmic motifs that are unique in and of themselves in that they come off as rather minimalistic patterns that do not feature any kind of elaborate showboating or excessive speed (fills, rolls, and other such things are practically non-existent on Orgasm, with the exception of various little forays throughout the song "Burning Bridges") - however, these patterns are displaced severely throughout the course of a given song, giving the music a dynamic, twisted, and highly kinetic feel. The guitars are divided into two camps - there's the angular, choppy riffing style that mostly follows the bass drum and serves to baffle the listener's sense of time (easily heard throughout any song on the record, though most notably on the two opening tracks "Methods of Survival" and "Flesh City", and the two closing tracks "Secondhand Traumas" and "Pre-Sense"); and then there are the rather profound flights that feature reverb/delay-laden progressions augmented by layered textural work that gives the music an enigmatic and celestial feel - "This Vigil" or "Heartquake" are both good examples. The bass work is quite good, and trades off between following the guitars during the more distinctly metallic portions of the album to ambient, funky, and jazzy contributions throughout the rest.

The strangest thing to be found on this album is probably the middle section of "Burning Bridges", which features Monika squeaking like a deranged, frightened little girl opposite to charming, yet intimidating male vocalist Rune Sorgard in a performance that comes across as some nightmarish stageplay backed by catchy funk. Orgasmic? Yes.

It doesn't end there, though. Once you've come to terms with the vocal performances on this album, it's a safe bet to check out Atrox's past albums, notably Contentum and Terrestrials. Monika is about 200% more bizarre on either one of those. It's great.

Unfortunately, Monika left the band after recording Orgasm. Damnit... but I guess it's a great way to go out.