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Paatos

Silence Of Another Kind

Written by: ASH on 08/06/2006 15:06:58

Influenced by big names like Björk and Portishead, the Stockholm quintet has now released their latest work "Silence Of Another Kind", a very different and atmospheric composition to listen through. Self categorized as melancholic progressive rock, Paatos toys with an interesting genre, where it's hard to fit into, since most prog rock artists arrange their music as lengthy melodies that easily run over 20 minutes, which can become quite exhausting for the average audience.

Nevertheless, "Silence Of Another Kind" covers many different genres in many aspects, which can make it confusing, but still it also shows spine and musical confidence. Some tracks, like "Shame" are more sudden and aggressive than the other tracks on the album, and even though it doesn't fit the album at all, in my opinion, it catches your attention instantly. For me, there's no doubt that Paatos feel very comfortable in the progressive dimension. Heck, even the artwork of the album captures the essence of progressive rock at its roots, since it draws some solid relations to the artwork style of King Crimson's "In the Court of the Crimson King" from 1969, which was considered as a milestone in progressive rock history.

Their jazzy instrumentals meeting The Gathering's alternative rock-ish vocals along with the melancholic voice of lead vocalist Petronella Nettermalm, once again make this album stand its ground. It's good to see that they're clear of what they're doing, but again it can become too much of the good. There are some points where you notice yourself in almost asleep, because the atmospheric synthing tends to change from interesting to soothing to boring and lastly to too much. The fourth track "Is That All?" is a perfect example of what I just described. With its ups and downs of this heavenly chanting accompanied with stoned backdrops of sounds, the track almost made me narcoleptic.

Most of the tracks on "Silence Of Another Kind" seem to be tireing. No offence, they almost balance on the borderline to uninteresting. One of them, the sixth track "Procession of Fools", even seems completely out of place and some could confuse it as being just a filler. I actually looked forward to hearing their music, since I heard an unnamed sound sample from a player on their website, which sounded great even though it was purely instrumental. But there's too much of everything on this album, therefore I can only look forward to future releases that have the same devotion, but a hell of alot more energy.

Download: "Falling", "There will be no Miracles"
For the fans of: The Gathering, Portishead
Listen: An unnamed sound sample

Release date 22.05.2006
InsideOut Music/SPV
Provided by Target ApS