Korea

The Delirium Suite

Written by: PP on 14/01/2011 02:33:27

It's criminal how underrated Korea are outside of, and I guess also within, Sweden. They are one of the most accomplished, complete new bands I've come across from the country in the last five years, and that's based on their debut album "For Present Purpose" alone. Sure, that record sounded a hell of a lot like A Perfect Circle and Tool combined, not least because their vocalist sounds impeccably like Maynard James Keenan, but the execution was near-flawless, better than any other Tool-inspired band I've ran across.

That was almost two years ago, though, and the listener was left wondering whether or not such a solid debut was a one-hit-wonder sort of thing. "The Delirium Suite" answers that question with a resounding no. A logical evolution from the debut album, the Deftones-influence has been toned down significantly in favour of a more heavy-alternative rock approach. Tool/A Perfect Circle influence is still undeniable because of the vocals, but the crunchy, almost nu-metallish guitars lean far more towards bands like Taproot and Chevelle (both among my favorites). It gives songs like "The Absentee" and "Take The Blame" a sense of heaviness without sacrificing the introspective, dreamy chorus lines that still manage to captivate the listener through excellent melodies. The choruses in these two particular songs, by the way, are way up there with "Insufficient Karma" and "Self-Deception" from their debut, if not better, leaving me wondering how it is possible that Korea isn't more widely known yet? Because if you ask me, some of the vocal melodies found on this album overshadow much of "10,000 Days", it goes without saying that Tool fans should be eating from the palms of Korea's hands both on this release and the one before.

A strong marketing push is heavily needed to make people aware of Korea. They are simply too good, their songs too well structured and too impressive for them to drown in the white noise of the music industry, which seems to be happening right now. If you really think about it, when you're only on your second album and you're writing songs that could easily fill large arenas in terms of soundscape and quality, someone is bound to notice sooner or later. I hope for Korea's sake it's sooner. People need to hear this stuff, as Tool isn't about to deliver "Lateralus"-level songwriting anytime soon.

8

Download: The Absentee, Catacylusm, Take The Blame
For the fans of: Chevelle, Tool, Taproot, Deftones, A Perfect Circle
Listen: Myspace

Release date 26.11.2010
ViciSolum Productions

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