KORALREVENS KLAGESANG

Panzerpappa followed up their excellent Farlig Vandring with another beautiful release titled Koralrevens Klagesang. Unlike Panzerpappa's previous offering, this time around, this Norwegian quartet decided to feature quite a few guest appearances on their latest studio release. Among them is the legendary Canterbury Scene artist Richard Sinclair who contributes a one track vocal performance on what otherwise should be considered an almost completely instrumental album.

The album begins with the first of the three short Koralrevens Klagesang compositions. Part I doesn't really make much sense as an intro and unless you've heard Part III this album introduction doesn't really leave much of an impression. Things do heat up a bit with Koralrevens Klagesang II which to my ears is the most adventurous and consistent compositions on the album featuring a strong melody and a few interesting style shifts throughout its mere 5 minutes play time.

Just like Farlig Vandring this album features two lengthier pieced but that's pretty much where all comparison stops since neither Kantonesisk Kantour nor Frenetisk Frenologi come close to the quality of the previous album's masterpieces. Kantonesisk Kantour does start with an intro that lured me into assuming that I was in for a real treat but the composition changes its direction halfway through and even features some Zeuhl-sounding song towards the end of the track. Frenetisk Frenologi (For Nybegynnere) with it's 14 minutes of play time does offer quite a few twist and turns going from pure jazz to some metal sounding sections. Unfortunately the end results aren't all that specular although the composition does offer enough creative peaks to keep me entertain all through its duration.

What makes Koralrevens Klagesang stand out in comparison to Panzerpappa's previous release is the softer side of their sound that is highlighted with the gentle acoustic instrumental number titled Apraxia and Vintervake featuring the soft voice of Richard Sinclair. I do enjoy this slight new style change and I'm sure that the band's next album, that was announced in May 2009, will take even better use of this stylistic approach.

Koralrevens Klagesang might not be the step forward I was hoping for after hearing Farlig Vandring but the band definitely shows that they can create great music even with slightly lesser material.

***** star songs: Koralrevens Klagesang II (4:55)

**** star songs: Kantonesisk Kantour (9:12) Apraxia (3:27) Snill Sang På Bånd (5:59) Etyde (6:20) Vintervake (5:35) Frenetisk Frenologi (14:16) Koralrevens Klagesang III (2:49)

*** star songs: Koralrevens Klagesang I (2:41)