Latest News

Switch Opens
Switch Opens – Switch Opens

1.    Express Death
2.    Pyramids
3.    Paper Walls
4.    He Dives Down
5.    Terra Incognita
6.    Lucky Me, Lucky You
7.    Super Globe Of Pain
8.    The Electric Hour

  Some records just plain baffle you, and not in a good way. Take Swedish foursome Switch Opens: they’re a dab hand at this atmospheric cosmic doom business, but despite the extended song lengths, they just don’t seem to have the patience for it. ‘Express Death’ might motor along like it’s steam-powered namesake, but seems a curious mishmash of reverb heavy guitars in the YOB mould and a slapdash Kylesa, with the end result being a soupy mess. Happily, follow-on track ‘Pyramids’ is a much more satisfying affair, although not quite scaling the ethereal heights of the two aforementioned acts.

And that’s pretty much the story of this record: it seems to fall into the cracks between doom and sludge, but satisfying in neither respect. ‘He Dives Down’ does have the merit of a mammoth heavy riff, but you’ll probably still hanker for Cathedral’s back catalogue at least two minutes in. And ‘Lucky Me, Lucky You’ suffers from sounding like Viking Skull fronted by Eric Cartman. In contrast, though, ‘Terra Incognita’ shows what happens when they take their time, and here that their talents really come into play as they carefully build into a massive sinister groove leading into a breath-taking finale. Ditto on ‘Super Globe Of Pain’, which is pleasingly epic given the comparatively short running time.

While this is a patchy affair, the attempt to mix psychedelic doom and Motorhead grooves in one tidy package certainly isn’t an easy sell. While it may stagger when it should swagger, there’s certainly plenty of good ideas here to get your teeth into. Roll on album number two.

Reviewed by Steve Jones
‘Switch Opens’ is out now on GMR






6.5
Comments (0)add
Write comment
smaller | bigger

security image
Write the displayed characters


busy