Lifelover - Sjukdom (2011)

I don't know if it's a symptom of my excess passion for music or a tangible conjuration of empathy, but every time a band I admire so much seems to grind to a halt, my heart simply shatters. Not to grow all emo on you, but this appears to be exactly what has occurred with Sweden's Lifelover upon their fourth full-length. Whereas each prior album detailed a minute but wondrous evolution in sorrow and atmosphere, culminating in the surreal and beautiful Konkurs in 2009 (which I still listen to on a regular basis), the process seems to have decayed in the writing of Sjukdom. The fact that the title for this album is 'sickness' is perhaps all too telling of its contents, because there's certainly there's a pox upon the creative muse here, and ultimately this album is more of the same...but far less...

Taken at simply a compositional level, it is a near doppelganger of its predecessors, with the same sense for driving guitars, wailing and insane, tortured vocals, and outside elements like pianos that are used to add additional seasoning to what might otherwise be entirely too simple writing. This formula has worked miracles in the past, through Erotik and especially Konkurs, but here it seems to limp along without provoking much compelling or curious content, and songs like "Svart Galla" and "Resignation" would not have been out of place a few years ago, but for whatever reason, they just don't leave a lasting impression here. I'm not sure if it's the cleaner, bruising production or just the fact that the notes don't configure themselves into patterns that access my memory banks, but I felt lost, like a young lad waiting for his favorite parent to pick him up at school and only being sent his annoying cousin.

Sjukdom is not entirely barren of different ideas for Lifelover, but when one of them is to call a song "Homicidal Tendencies" (is that funny?), I must ask who kidnapped the band's muse to torture her on the basement level of some suburban apartment complex? This is basically a mediocre thrash riff with some wild vocals and electronic components. There's always been a substrata of humor to the band's style, but ouch. "Totus Anctus" is disposable groove metal which only picks up during the segues into clean guitars and narrative; "Karma" just disposable groove/death metal which the piano at the climax cannot rescue; "Becksvart Frustration" a vapid punkish rhythm which is simply not good enough to propel the froglike vocals riding it; "Instrumental Anthem" far too literal; and "Led by Misfortune" just sounds like a Pyogenesis outtake from 1995.

The good cuts here are thus sadly outnumbered. I enjoyed "Horans Hora", which is the longest on the album, elegant and doomed without any needless excess. "Nedvaknande" has perhaps the best single riff on the album, a longing construction with sexy, enthusiastic melodies behind the verse narration and random groans. "Bitterljuv Kakofoni" is also pretty good, a somber piece with samples and steady, syringe sucking drums, and "Expandera" is somewhat acceptable, with a fine level of sadness where the piano and guitar chords collide. But when compared to the great set of songs on the last full-length, even these moments of respite from the mediocre environs seem themselves a dash underwhelming. ( ) is hit or miss; often manifesting the same charisma I've enjoyed in years, but often becoming a near caricature of himself. The variation of the album is not a negative trait, but so few of the experiments towards a more pedestrian metallic territory pan out.

Sjukdom does not represent Suckdom, because there are enough ligaments conjoining its joints to create the illusion of quality, but it's the first hurdle I've yet heard in the band's career, and it's just not impressive. Hopefully they can shake these brambles out of their breeches soon and rise once more from refraction to revelation.

Verdict: Indifference [6.25/10] (the imaginary friend of everyone else)

http://www.lifelover.se/

Lifelover - Promo (2005)

Exposure to Lifelover's initial 2005 promo recording comes in two forms: either you've downloaded it to check it out, or you purchased the limited edition Konkurs though Avantgarde which included the material, since the original cassettes must be almost impossible to locate at this time. Either way, it is important to note that this is not the same bizarre metal band who would release their debut Pulver in the following year. Sure, it's got two of the same members, ( ) and B, and it's called Lifelover (with a different logo), but this is an ambient recording using ringing and brooding guitar feedback broken up by only the occasional screamed vocal. Whether this was an intended direction for the band and they shifted to their later, melodic black/rock style, or there was some implicit duality in their goals to release both ambient and metallic works (certainly others, like Vinterriket have done such a thing), this is simply not the same Lifelover sound that would survive to transform the band into cult favorites.

The kicker is, this was actually enjoyable material, and it would have proven interesting had they pursued this course, even though we might never have been gifted with an Erotik or a Konkurs. Obviously we're reaching into an entirely different realm of experimentation, since you won't find the tinny drum machine, the swaggering, almost drunken rasping chaos of ( ), or the surge of Katatonia-styled guitars that provide the undercurrent for their modern work. Instead, the duo channels Brian Eno through two lengthy, untitled compositions in over 53 minutes. "I" is the longer of these, providing resonant walls of string feedback given both warm and eerie tones as the occasional vocal snippet plugs through, building to several crescendos in the middle and climax of the track. "II" opens with the most minimal pause on the album, but the sounds that erupt about 4-5 minutes into this are wonderfully frightening, like the blaring of horns across a mute landscape, shimmering little guitars reaching ghastly fingers of ice through the din. The end is quite warm, like an afternoon in the womb, strange sights and sounds just beyond the realm of the listener's unborn perceptions.

As a pretty huge fan of ambient and dark ambient musics, there was much on this release that appeals to me. Do I find it as distinct as their metal direction? Probably not. There were of course hundreds of artists already afield of large catalogs of such minimal background noise, and while Lifelover were completely capable of making it stick, they're not quite at the level of a Raison d'Etre or Atrium Carceri. Still, if this genre suits you, then there is no reason not to check it out, because it's further evidence of the Swedes' offbeat center, their dimension of detail, their flirtation with the obscure, wringing the cloth of quality for each longing drop.

Verdict: Win [7/10]

http://www.myspace.com/lifeloverband

Lifelover - Erotik (2007)

Whether one loved or hated this Swedish band's bleeding or bloodied girl debut, there was not really a question as to whether Lifelover were bringing something new to the table. Various traces of outside sources certainly make their way under the compositional eaves, as they do with any new artist or collaboration, but the whole was endearing enough to admit the band were onto something, which would draw divisive lines between the hipster attuned and grim cybernauts of the necrocosm. Just what the fuck was this band doing? Clearly this was not your pastor's feared black metal, so one could only ride the vapors of their fusion or rally against any and all change they might offer the jaded, stagnant genre they originated from.

Erotik is neither brilliant nor vomit inducing, but in my opinion the slight improvements to their core aesthetic formulate a slightly superior entity to the debut Pulver. This is still the same jangled mass of melancholy, samples, doom and depressive rock integrated with the compulsive and raw repetition of melodic black metal guitars, all set against a darkening journey down a fat hole, with a drum machine as your pilot. However, where Erotik succeeds over its older sister is in the ability to haunt the listener, for this might just remain the most frighteningly intense of Lifelover's offerings, even though it tidies up rather nicely in the production department. The pianos and guitars were a step up from Pulver, and ( ) ventured into a grimmer territory here as evidenced in particular tracks like "En Man I Sina Sämsta År".

That song is actually an excellent place to start poring over the stubborn delights of this album, because the wailing melodies that open it burn themselves directly into the conscience, soon parted for sympathetic pianos and thick, oozing bass and chords. The vocals here are nearly death metal gutturals, and the result is a glorious, charging testament to depression rather than some subtle sacrifice upon the altar of lamentation. Other tracks like "Dödens Landsväg", "Sweet Illness of Mine", "I Love (To Hurt) You" and the soaring "Välkommen Till Pulvercity" all capture a similar imagination, as if all the negative emotions of regret that haunted the Swedish urban nights this album was recorded were to accumulate into a vortex of saddening majesty and then rape your earlobes. Not all the chord patterns here are immaculate, but they do the trick, and it would be difficult to ignore the raw, blissful energy.

Of course, it would not be Lifelover without some measure of diversity, and this is felt in most of the neighborly tracks to those I've already swept across with broad strokes. "Saltvatten (Du + Jag VS. Tellus)" makes use of sparse, clean guitars as it breeds the pangs of sharp despair like a blade carefully caressing a wrist, unsure of whether or not to make that final plunge into the blood line, severing the right and will to live. "Besatt" also uses the clean, ringing tones as it shuffles forward like some hybrid of shoegazing rock and celebratory, warm folk, and then the following "Höstdepressioner" continues the mood, adding more glorious melodies (a little dash of The Cure there in the background, behind the samples). I did draw the impression that perhaps there were too many clean guitars in a row, but then, this is a band that could likely create an entire album around such pieces with success.

"Humörets Bottenvåning" makes for a fine interlude, a quaint trip hop beat pumping below some tasteful pianos and electronic swells, but it should have been the outro, because the two tracks that conclude the album are probably the weakest. "Museum of Past Affections" looked good on paper, and the cleaner vocals are interesting, but the riffs tend to grow tiring after merely a few repetitions, the glorious pattern implied just not all that impressive next to the earlier ragers here. After this, the 11 minute "Nitlott" spends about half its course in rustic folk, then shifting into more of the band's ringing little guitar melodies, and finally a warped approximation of black/doom with samples and reversed vocals. Strange enough to fit the band? Sure, but not that interesting of its own accord.

Unlike the debut Pulver, I will admit that this sophomore has only grown on me in the few years since its release. My preference remains for Konkurs, the third full-length, which I still find to be the greatest balance of beauty and misery that this band has yet crafted, but surely the ground work had been well laid here in Erotik's back alleys and rusted public works. This album might not have a beautiful blond in her bloody birthday suit embracing a rocky, lichen-crusted surface, but its evening cityscape is well suited to the musical content, a festival of lights that hover at the edge of total, bleak annihilation, a surge of desperation that the heart might have emptied, but the blood still burns for tomorrow.

Verdict: Win [8/10]

http://www.myspace.com/lifeloverband

Lifelover - Pulver (2006)

Pulver is perhaps the most futile of albums to critique, since it's hard to believe anyone of the male (or possibly female) persuasion could tear their eyes away from its interesting cover image long enough to read something pertaining to the musical contents, but it's not as if anyone could really blame them. The cover is striking on more than just a sexual level, and I'm sure it didn't hurt the Swedes' chances with this interesting if flawed proposition of hybrid sounds. Basically, Lifelover mix the driving, desperate melodic doom of a Katatonia with tortured, wandering vocals courtesy of the enigmatic ( ) (see also Hypothermia) that best represent the depressive black metal schemata, and through this they drive the stakes of earthy folk and rock influences, with some even more interesting curve balls in store for those willing to delve deep inside its unusual depths.

Pulver opens with two of its strongest songs, so the attraction is very quickly felt for what the band is attempting to create on their debut. "Nackskott" favors a meandering, surf/folk guitar line above which ( ) introduces you to his surly and characteristic pain, scraping a number of registers until the intense bridge of the track which most closely resembles black metal. The track ends with a sample of what I'd assume to be a child's TV theme or folk song in Swedish, creating this unusual disparity. Following is "MS Salmonella" with its driving melodic doom chords and piano overlays (a trick this band will consistently manifest on later work like the strikingly similar "Shallow" from the excellent third album Konkurs). One doesn't really expect the gunshot and screaming samples to erupt into a Celtic Frost groove, but there it is, and thus closes the most consistently impressive chapter of this record.

Apart from these, I was greatly enamored of "Söndag", deeper into the track list, a circular melodic doom track which channels a simplistic Paradise Lost pattern of chords into blissful hopelessness, ( ) careening over its wide channels of sorrow like a galleon of distorted emotions. The lush piano intro to "Kärlek - Becksvart Melankoli" is waylaid by another driving sequence of cleaner guitars, nearly silent programmed drumming and extremely angst-ridden vocals, but it at least offers a few moments of potential. There are also a pair of intriguing interludes found in the roiling, evil noise swells of "Medicamannen" which are offset by the folk and conversational samples, and the turbulent funeral ambient tones of "Avbrott Sex", a melancholic piano striking out across them as if you weren't already creeped out enough. "Stockholm" is another track to use the surf-like, bouncing folk guitars and some delicious, subversive bass, so add this one in the plus category, and the acoustic/piano fusion of "Herrens Hand" is soothing and strange with its samples.

Sadly, the remainder of the effort is not so compelling. "Mitt Öppna Öga" starts off with a decent melodic thrust, but once the sex samples arrive the track has already played out its interesting nature and becomes sour. "Vardagsnytt" bounces along with some of the sillier vocals on the record, but the chord pattern below is bare of any essential atmosphere or patterns. "Nästa Gryning" goes for a dreamy sequence, the vocals ringing out distantly across Romantic parlor tricks in the clean chord selection, but ultimately fails to thrill me despite the 6:25 minutes it spends trying, and the closer "En Sång Om Dig" is a slovenly wreck that might have just been clipped from the recordings and none would be at any loss whatsoever. Other complaints I've heard are with the production, but I must disagree there. The tinny silence of the drum beats is a delightful counterbalance for the thicker broth of emotional range created through the vocals and dirty guitar tones, and the lo-fi quality is welcome as it is with many more traditional black metal acts.

Pulver was a unique experience for its day, but one that Lifelover has consistently trumped with the rest of their output. Considering the experimental attitude of the band, it surprises me just how much of this debut I do hear in the later Konkurs. Then again, the band were on a spree of one album per year so the smaller, natural evolutionary steps make sense, and the wealth of this style had yet to be shaken from their collective systems. I truly enjoy 2-3 of these songs, namely "Nackskott" and "Söndag", and they are not without interesting companions here, but enough of the material drags its feet on the bottom that the album has difficulty finding a smooth current to sail. It's an intriguing vessel to visit, but I rarely feel the urge to stay aboard for long.

Verdict: Win [7.25/10]

http://www.myspace.com/lifeloverband

Lifelover - Dekadens EP (2009)

Last year's full-length Konkurs was a pants-dropping affair which transformed my mild but bland curiosity towards this band into a tumescent state of attention. It was all at once graceful, sad, plucky, epic and ridiculous, ample evidence of a band on the fringe of the oft-suffocating genrification that is black metal, doom metal, banana metal, 'depressive' rock, and the like.

Not knowing what to expect, as you can really never know what to expect from this band, I awaited the follow-up EP Dekadens with 7 tracks and nearly 30 minutes of material. My reaction is about as mixed as the chaotic spectrum of emotions present here. Some of the songs are right on the Konkurs level, like the melancholic black rock of "Lethargy" and the go-go gothic "Androider" with its tortured vocal garbles. "Destination: Ingestans" is another bright moment with its spacious, droning guitars that recall the best 90s shoegazer rock, though it breaks for both sultry acoustics and a fucking THRASH riff of all things. Other tracks like "Luguber Framtid", "Myspys" and the more directly black metal "Major Fuck Off" were pleasing enough for the first listen, but I did not feel any pang of loss at their passing.

The Dekadens EP should provide enough cream to fill the cakes of any Lifelover fan as they await the next full-length. It sounds quite lovely, and I'd count a few of the tracks among the band's better material, but I wasn't left the same post-coital soggy mass on the floor for it as I was Konkurs. Still, "Lethargy" is like suckling a teat of sweet milky regret, and the EP is almost worth it for that track alone. It should be dropping very soon, unlike your credit card balance.

Verdict: Win [7.5/10]

http://www.lifelover.se/

Lifelover - Konkurs (2008)

Whereas several of my critical collaborators sported major erections over the previous albums of this Swedish band, I was never quite impressed enough to feel any blood rising in my nethers.

Well ... as a wise man once said ... schwing. I can now add my own throbbing man-staff to the choir, rubbing heads among a sea of purple headed warriors. The event is Konkurs, the third full effort of this entity. Not quite a 'super band', but you get the drift: Lifelover's own members are swollen from the rank and file of Hypothermia, IXXI, Dimhymn and Ondskapt.

The 14 tracks presented here aren't the easiest to describe, I like to think of them as a fascinating middle ground between tortured, minimal black metal and the more romantic, melodic doom you might find in the earlier works of a band like Katatonia. The vocals of ( ) are unmistakable, could you imagine the wailing screams and barks of the depressive black metal multitude, only 'accessible'? Right on. The guitars are the real stars of the show here, they are driving and unforgettable as they hammer through the majority of the tracks with threatening grace. But this isn't enough for the discerning Lifelover, who also embellish many of the songs with tasteful piano licks and a dense, longing atmosphere.

Konkurs is a playground, and the manhood of its progenitors has free reign over the rides and attractions. You can never expect exactly what is going to happen, but it always happens for a reason and it is pleasing to the palette. The freakish snarls in the bridge of "Cancertid". The gothic tinged, sexy tongue of "Stangt p.g.a. Semester" or the post-rockish, luminous bridge of "Spiken I Kistan". Or how about the pure ambience of "Mitt Annexia" with its lapping shores and delightfully distant guitar sirens. Throughout the entire length of play, they are the masters of whatever they conceive. Some of these songs are instantly infectious, the rest aren't far behind.

All this would be hot sex, except that they even go so far as to write decent lyrics...you'll just have to translate the majority of them. I'm going to sum this album up with the following statement:

If 'emo' didn't suck, and melodic doom and black metal came along one night at the club and knocked it up, and then emo didn't bother with a paternity test, what you would have is Konkurs.

Live it.
Love it.
And pass me some tissues while you're at it.

Verdict: Epic Win [9.5/10]

http://www.lifelover.se/