Swan Christy - Julian
Black Lotus Records - BLR/CD056 - 2004
By Philip Whitehouse
The hardest thing about this review for me was deciding whether to bother sticking it on the site at all, for two reasons. Firstly, Swan Christy have always had a rather eccentric and avant-garde approach to making music, and their latest release has moved away from metal altogether. And secondly, because there are likely to be few people who read the reviews on this site who will be willing to give such an unusual band a chance. What the hell, I'll give it a shot.
This is the sixth album from the progressive/ambient/electronica/rock act from Greece, although on Julian you can pretty muich jettison the 'rock' part of their description - the guitar has been abandoned as an instrument almost totally (except for occasional acoustic strummings), the band instead basing their compositions on piano melodies, cut-paste-and-manipulate sampling, Vangelis like synths, and heavily Greek-accented singing which sounds a tad overdramatic, but seems to work on some level after a while.
Sounding at times like a particularly ambitious Nine Inch Nails remix album, at others like Antimatter being swallowed by HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey, with occasional hints of a jamming session between a heavily sedated Fantomas and The Chemical Brothers, this is utterly individualistic, highly unhinged music. Music shot through with tinges of surreal genius. The third track 'But... That Was Before' is a gentle and infectious piano based slice of mellow electronica, which is followed by a schizophrenic instrumental track.
If you're looking for something very, very different, then you could do worse than check out Swan Christy. Just be warned - there are absolutely no metal elements here anymore. Try slapping this on in between the latest Watchmaker and Today Is The Day albums to really freak yourself out, though...
7.5/10
Swan Christy Official website
Black Lotus Records website
Black Lotus Records - BLR/CD056 - 2004
By Philip Whitehouse
The hardest thing about this review for me was deciding whether to bother sticking it on the site at all, for two reasons. Firstly, Swan Christy have always had a rather eccentric and avant-garde approach to making music, and their latest release has moved away from metal altogether. And secondly, because there are likely to be few people who read the reviews on this site who will be willing to give such an unusual band a chance. What the hell, I'll give it a shot.
This is the sixth album from the progressive/ambient/electronica/rock act from Greece, although on Julian you can pretty muich jettison the 'rock' part of their description - the guitar has been abandoned as an instrument almost totally (except for occasional acoustic strummings), the band instead basing their compositions on piano melodies, cut-paste-and-manipulate sampling, Vangelis like synths, and heavily Greek-accented singing which sounds a tad overdramatic, but seems to work on some level after a while.
Sounding at times like a particularly ambitious Nine Inch Nails remix album, at others like Antimatter being swallowed by HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey, with occasional hints of a jamming session between a heavily sedated Fantomas and The Chemical Brothers, this is utterly individualistic, highly unhinged music. Music shot through with tinges of surreal genius. The third track 'But... That Was Before' is a gentle and infectious piano based slice of mellow electronica, which is followed by a schizophrenic instrumental track.
If you're looking for something very, very different, then you could do worse than check out Swan Christy. Just be warned - there are absolutely no metal elements here anymore. Try slapping this on in between the latest Watchmaker and Today Is The Day albums to really freak yourself out, though...
7.5/10
Swan Christy Official website
Black Lotus Records website
