Hardcore punk can’t be tamed without losing it’s street
\ncredibility or can it? Should such a concept even be
\nentertained?<\/p>\n
Oslo, Norway’s hardcore upstarts, Amulet, found reason to tinker
\nwith what I find to be an exceptional debut release as they hit the
\nstudio to record their second album,
\nFreedom Fighters<\/i>. Adding a second guitarist to the fold
\n(Espen Follestad) that would also contribute backing vocals might
\nseem trivial. But sprinkle in the effects of a Hollywood-schooled
\nfemale soul singer (Tracee Meyn) to a track coupled with three
\nother chicks singing the prominent background chorus to another
\nsong and there would be seemingly be no chance for the album to be
\ntaken seriously amongst the hardcore faithful.<\/p>\n
Additionally, for that band to release such an album in these
\ncircumstances, win categories at the prestigious Norwegian Alarm
\nAwards, and get picked up by a major label has to involve several
\nother factors. Well, it’s not going to take putting on the Clouseau
\nhat for me to offer some fundamental reasons why Amulet was able to
\npull off these feats with
\nFreedom Fighters<\/i>.<\/p>\n
First, Torgny Amdam should be the envy of every hardcore
\nscreamo-type act for his maniacal vocal styles. When he chooses to
\nbridge his screaming aggro vocal lines by having to actually sing,
\nhe can do it as well as anybody I have ever heard. He has passion
\nand he sounds legitimately pissed when he needs to (which is 90% of
\nthe time on this album) which are carry over traits from the band’s
\ndebut,
\nThe Burning Sphere<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Secondly, by the band adding the second guitar and a dedicated
\nbackground vocalist,
\nFreedom Fighters<\/i> benefits with a fuller sound than before
\nwhich admirably does nothing to encroach on Amdam’s ability to
\nremain the focal point on all of the songs. If this were a pop or
\nstandard rock release, such an observation would be pointless as
\nthose genres generally lend themselves to a busier approach in
\ntheir musical output.<\/p>\n
Thirdly, the band had the good sense to employ Norway’s own
\nwonderboy, err\u2026Euroboy in Knut Schreiner (Turbonegro,
\nEuroboys, the Vikings) to team with Anders M\u00f8ller, (Anal
\nBabes) in producing the album. Essentially, these two guys have had
\ntheir hands in most of the better punk recordings that the Oslo
\nscene has produced in the ’90s to present day.<\/p>\n
Oh yeah — we can’t forget the female input. The track “Profane
\nWishes” is where Amulet employs Meyn to harmonize backing vocals
\naround the chorus. The band is able to succeed in pulling this off
\nfor a couple of reasons — Meyn’s parts, while noticeable, are
\nhidden by a searing instrumental jam that brings the song back to
\nthe overall hardcore pace of the album. Not given the chance to
\ntime itself out, “Profane Wishes” stops itself just short of being
\ncalled a ballad in rock terms.<\/p>\n
“Hot Time” is built around the same blueprint. It’s another
\nspastic track that comes up for air a couple of times allowing the
\nboys to breathe. Within the context of a 12-track album, both
\ninstances of these short-leashed guest appearances do more to
\ncreate identity for all of the songs on the album than they
\ncontribute in hurting anything.<\/p>\n
It would be pointless for me to start naming certain tracks on
\nFreedom Fighters<\/i> as better than others. I have always
\ncontended that this was a special album in that it comes off as a
\ncomplete soundtrack for the entire recording. And in what is
\nsomething of an odd occurrence, my recommendation of this album to
\neveryone that has taken the time to actually listen to it has
\nyielded nothing but positive remarks.<\/p>\n
Dig punk rock? Have the stomach to reel in the hardcore pace?
\nGive this album a listen.<\/p>\n
\n[Note: Columbia re-released<\/i> Freedom Fighters
\nwith some extra tracks and video from<\/i> The Burning Sphere
\nand before. Roll the dice and ante up the extra bucks to give
\nthat release a try.]<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":26716,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[6942],"rating":[5646],"class_list":["post-37973","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-amulet","rating-rating-a"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37973","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37973"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37973\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37973"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=37973"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=37973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}