SENSORS

"Sensors" is a live album by Swedish progressive rock act Paatos. The album was released through Mellotronen Records in 2007. "Sensors" was recorded live in Karlsruhe (Germany), Paris (France) and Zoetermeer (The Netherlands) in November 2006. So it´s not one cohesive live recording but rather the best versions of the tracks from those three shows. The CD and the vinyl version also feature different tracklists. Well...it´s actually the same 7 tracks but they are shuffled around. While it may sound like an issue, it´s not really that big of a deal, because as a consequence of the sparse audience reactions between tracks, and the even more sparse band interaction with the audience, the silence between some of the tracks aren´t that obvious and doesn´t ruin anything.

The tracklist comprises tracks from all three studio albums, that the band had released up until then: "Timeloss (2002)", "Kallocain (2004)" and "Silence Of Another Kind (2006)". It´s interesting though, that the band have chosen only to include "Your Misery" from "Silence Of Another Kind (2006)", which was their latest studio album release at the time, and three tracks from each of the two predecessors.

The music is female led atmospheric rock with the occasional progressive rock section. Paatos are distinct sounding because they insist on using vintage keyboards/synths and especially the mellotron is a dominant instrument in the soundscape. Piano, guitar, bass and drums are the other instruments most prominent in the band´s sound. This provides Paatos music with a warmth and organic quality that´s greatly charming. Their tracks are for the most part vers/chorus structured but especially the tracks from "Timeloss (2002)" feature progressive structures and ideas. It´s the strong and intense vocal delivery by Petronella Nettermalm (who also plays cello) that´s mostly the center of attention though.

The band are very well playing and their performance here is top notch. Petronella are also at the top of her game and only very rarely is she slightly out of tune. The sound production is well sounding and powerful too, so all in all "Sensors" is a great live recording by Paatos and a 4 star (80%) rating is deserved. I´ll even recommend this over some of the band´s studio output.