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Not often, we receive promos from Hungarian bands. This group was
formed at the end of 1995 by guitarist András Perneczky and drummer
Attila Máthé. The team was soon joined by bass guitarist László Liwa
who had previously played together in a local band with the founders
of the group. In the summer of 1997 the band was joined by vocalist
Péter Budai.
According to their biography, they sent me; they have some problems
in their country. “Due to Hungarian publisher’s dislike of rock
music, we were forced to do the publishing and distribution by
ourselves. The dislike is even more evident when the music meets
some innovating spirit. And our band is something of the kind”.
It’s difficult to put a label on this guy’s music. They use folksong
elements and music, but not enough to call it folk-rock. Another
element that points in the same direction is the use of their
maternal language from time to time. The promo doesn’t include a
booklet with the lyrics, but you can find them on their site and
even there you’ll see only the English lyrics. I suppose that every
piece in Hungarian has the same meaning as the English chorus of the
same track. The English of the singer is quite good but the lyrics
aren’t always correct.
If you want a reference to describe their sound, I would call it
Eddie Vedder singing on Tool music. Although the singer doesn’t have
the deep undertone of Eddie Vedder, there really is a resemblance,
especially in the quiet track “Ultrasound”.
There’s not enough variation to keep it interesting for the whole
album and a few good guitar solos would have improved the whole
sound. Although you can call the band progressive, the word doesn’t
really cover their music. But who cares, if the music is good. The
production is all right and the band spreads a lot of energy.
A
few of the highlights? The whole track “Domestic Orders Only” and
especially the flute solo. The vocals in “Deep” with the high
‘Werewolves of London-Warren Zevon’ tremolo. The strong guitar riff
in “Brainmash”. The dark, emotional ballad “Ultrasound”, with some
great vocal harmonies and the support by the violin. The brilliant
chorus of “Azur”.
This is one of the albums, I at first putted aside. Then I was
thinking of giving it a mediocre review, but while listening to it,
I started to like the music. They really have created a sound of
their own and you can expect some good albums in the future. You can
download a few tracks on their site and you can contact them on
info@aebsence.com. |
