Mads Christensen

5212 Helvete

Written by: PP on 28/01/2022 19:41:11

Despite the name, Mads Christensen isn't your dime-a-dozen singer-songwriter. Instead, it's a noisy, buzzing rock band with punk undertones, featuring ex-Blood Command vocalist Silje Tombre in a prominent role. Now, if you've heard her previous band before, you'll immediately recognize her attitude-driven, high-pitched vocal assault that here, too, is wrapped in a similar, 'Berlin dancehall' influenced echoing soundscape.

Their debut album "5212 Helvete" captures that same vibrant, fast-paced rave-style rock'n'roll expression, offering plenty of grooves and hummable segments amidst the raw aggression that manifests itself on a couple of tracks. Yet on "Yes I Can But I Won't", Silje plays with elements from the pop realm, whilst the instrumentals draw from early 80s rock bands to create quite an experimental sound overall.

There's also a strong focus on exploring variants of noise drenched in an almost danceable, metallic alternative rock realm on the first three songs, and then all of a sudden we find ourselves within black metal inspired shrieks on "Step Into The Night", once again encompassed into a noise rock soundscape. Here, I must admit the band took a wrong turn because the ugly shrieks in no way complement Silje's otherwise charismatic and energetic style. That said, when she opts for ferocious, microphone-breaking screams on "Are You Ready To Die", the atmosphere swirls with energy that helps contrast the more poppy material - such as "I Do Not Have A Dream" - nicely.

But where Blood Command brilliantly succeeded using a similar soundscape, Mads Christensen's sound is a little too volatile and subject to random experimentation to appeal to the wider audience at this point. There's plenty of variety, but also too few catchy songs to latch onto as a listener, leaving behind a quirky, interesting sound but one that is in a clear need of refining at this point.

Download: Nice Nightmares, Yes I Can But I Won't
For the fans of: Blood Command, Sonic Youth,
Listen: Facebook

Release date 09.07.2021
Edged Circle

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