Whispers

Cohesion is an important aspect when it comes to music. In case an element constantly breaks out of the nicely arranged concept and disrupts the flow of the sounds, then the listener might find it difficult to thoroughly enjoy the performance. So, the balancing between ‘dominant facets’ of the art might be perceived as an important aspect, but what has this to do with the Swedish band Pandemonium and their 2008 release ‘Whispers’?

The moment someone takes a spin of the album this person will find him/herself surrounded by loads of layers. There are the nearly omnipresent vocals, the guitars, the keyboards and the drum-computer. All together they create something that has quite a voluminous touch, but the moment someone takes a closer look all breaks apart; similar to a house of cards. The listener is barely able to catch some breath. Overloaded up to the breaking point – or even beyond? – is now the art is perceived and in case someone has to vomit from Dimmu Borgir’s latest ‘black metal’ attempts, I wonder how the reactions to ‘Whispers’ would be.

The mainstream card is played here as well and the influences stretch from Cradle of Filth over to the Norwegian scene; aside from the one mentioned earlier also Kovenant, Old Man’s Child and similar ones should be noted. Everything sounds well arranged, ear-friendly, polished and bereft of identity. It is hard to point to a definite aspect of identity, because everything the Swedish band does has already been done … and much better of course. Maybe it is the focus that went wrong here. The emphasis on the vocals and their inability to offer something meaningful to the listener is what makes ‘Whispers’ so hard to endure. Less of them, a clearer structure in the compositions and fewer elements would have a positive effect on this album. Not really recommended … but it may be good for a spin or two.