Closer
The 39
Closersounds

Progressive metal has, to be honest, never been up my alley. There are some bands out there with those tendencies I approve of, like King Crimson, Opeth and TOOL among others. And Closer share similarities with the latter in general, the album "Ænima" in particular. The build up to the chorus on "Sensing the wake" is pure genius using elements from folklore, something TOOL's not afraid of doing either. Otherwise, this newly disbanded Stockholm-based combo sure gets my kicks off in all tracks on this EP. Don't know if it's something geographical but you can definitely hear the Scandinavian touch to it. Resembling Cult of Luna and Khoma and even, at times, At the Drive-In, it's a damn shame they decided to call it quits. Let's just hope that offspring act The Goatboys will be as promising.
- Jonas Appelqvist

MP3: Come Sleep - Be the end

As far as Isis derivatives go, Come Sleep does a pretty good job. It helps that they stick to the band's heavier mid-period sound (see "Celestial" or "Oceanic") as opposed to their drawn-out, more atmospheric (read: more boring/indulgent) recent work ("Panopticon", "In the absence of truth"). Come Sleep does sometimes exhibit a more melodic approach ala Khoma/Koma as well, and I think that also works to their advantage. There's a crapload of bands out there taking the mid-tempo heaviness formula and running with it, but too few of 'em stick with the basics: writing decent, straightforward, heavy songs. Come Sleep gets that right and it's essential. Hardly original, sure, but they fill a niche in the scene that's strangely vacant. One could certainly do far worse.

Come Sleep - Be the end

The playlist for my radio show this week:

01. Säkert! - Allt som är ditt
02. TALK 1
03. Madrugada - Shine
04. My Midnight Creeps - Don't let 'em bring you down
05. TALK 2
06. Asha Ali - A promise broken
07. Detektivbyrån - Hemvägen
08. Pelle Carlberg - Clever girls like clever boys much more than clever boys like clever girls
09. TALK 3
10. Enslaved - 793 (Slaget om Lindisfarne)
11. TALK 4
12. Fare You Well - Take me away
13. The Kissaway Trail - Smother + Evil = Hurt
14. Emmon - Wake up time (Thermostatic remix)
15. TALK 5
16. KVLR - Traitors and thieves
17. Magnus Carlsson - Va med mig
18. Jonas Kullhammar Quartet - Bebopalulia
19. TALK 6
20. De Må Være Belgiere - Cirkler
21. Johndoe - Kjøtere
22. Manes - Deeprooted
23. TALK 7
24. Khoma - Stop making speeches
25. The Giant's Dream - Significant dawn
26. Las Puertas - The water
27. TALK 8
28. Lordi - The chainsaw buffet
29. Logh - A sunset knife fight
30. Lack - 5 o'clock in the evening
31. TALK 9
32. The Bear Quartet - Before the trenches
33. Jan Johansson - Visa från Utanmyra
34. TALK 10
35. Kashmir - The aftermath

Top 10s for 2006: Emil Björkander (Black Star Foundation/Khoma)

Top 10s for 2006: Staff picks

This just in: Emil at Black Star Foundation managed to unearth a few leftover copies of Koma/Khoma's debut album "Tsunami" so of course I scored a stack of 'em for mailorder. You interested? Go git it: [click here]

Video mix: Peter Bjorn and John, The Lionheart Brothers, Kristofer Åström, Desert Planet, José González, Khoma, more...

Aversionline on Khoma's latest album "The second wave": http://www.aversionline.com/blahg/2006/10/khoma-second-wave-cd.html
Thanks to Andrew for the shout-out, as always.

Peta talks to Khoma frontman Jan: http://www.peta2.com/uk/uk-khoma.asp?c=p2uk73

Enter the Hunt's debut full-length "For life. 'Til death. To Hell. With love" has been confirmed for release on August 23. There's no samples from the album yet, but you can still preview three tracks from the "Become the prey" EP on myspace: http://www.myspace.com/enterthehunt
Definitely recommended for people in melodic heaviness ala Khoma or Closer. Or 'intelligent heavy rock', as I like to say.

Khoma will support 36 Crazyfists on the following UK dates:

06/09 - Corporation, Sheffield
06/13 - Barfly, Cardiff
06/14 - Barfly, Birmingham
06/15 - Barfly, London

Head over to Khoma's website for some updates in the diary concerning tour plans and the second pressing of their new album "The second wave": http://www.khoma.net/index2.aspx

Khoma
The second wave
Roadrunner Records

With a new giant label backing them up and a new letter in the bands name, the guys are back with the follow-up to 2004's best album, "Tsunami". The hype has started again with "The second wave" and, for once, it's well-deserved. With a sound that can tear down walls, Khoma's mix of post-rock, indiepop and metal seem to appeal to a wide range of people. Influences from Radiohead are heard in the vocal arrangements, but not to the extent that it becomes annoying. What really makes this band so interesting is that they sound like no other. With members from great acts like Cult Of Luna, The Perishers and old Plastic Pride, it's bound to come out sounding good. They spill their hearts out for us with songs about the great strike in Sweden ("1909.08.04"), feminism and animal rights. But the political aspects are never taking over, it's always the music that's in focus. And I somehow feel that that's exactly how they want it to be. However, there's a negative side to this record and by that I'm talking about focus. Some of the ballads should have been excluded to make the album a total blow-out. And I must say that the decision to include three already released songs, "One of us must hang", "Stop making speeches", "Like coming home", is somewhat boring. But in spite of this, hat's off to Khoma and I look forward to Metaltown in Gothenburg in July. 'Cause if you like them on their records, you should really try to see them live!
- Jonas Appelqvist

All-star bands are rarely, if ever, any good. There are a few notable exceptions, but what looks good on paper rarely adds up to quality in real-life. Khoma is one such exception. Who would've thought that combining members from such dissimilar acts as Cult of Luna and The Perishers would work so well? Oh, but it does; in fact it sometimes eclipses the other acts altogether. I was excited about Khoma as soon as their first album "Tsunami" was released, way back in 2004 before they added the H to the name. With so many lackluster mid-tempo heavy acts polluting the airwaves I wanted to shout Khoma's name from the mountaintops to let everyone know how good they are. The band's new album "The second wave" is even better than the debut. I had some trepidations about they rerecording some of the songs from the first, but I relucatantly agree that it makes sense now that they have a much bigger potential audience through Roadrunner and heck, they sound great. Why complain? Kudos to Magnus Lindberg at Tonteknik - the drums recording is killer. I'm sure some it is Thomas Hedlund's constantly improved playing and maybe his kit, but whatever it is, the tones they got on tape are stunning. For today's mp3 I've decided to revisit the track "One of us must hang" which I used to close out the first "Reader's companion" disc. The new version is a tad faster, but it's just as powerful. Check it out.