Paatos: Timeloss (2002).1

It might as well be 1972. Paatos taps into the energetic, improvisational songcrafting that brought so much fascinating music from that era. The first track Sensor, explodes into a free and frantic anthem with brilliant drumwork from Huxflux. The guitar melodies remind me of early Genesis material, in time when musicianship came before sleek productions, marketing and one-hit, non-thematic records. But Paatos is not the straight-forward concept-album writing group, there is a dual-personality in their style.

The mood calms down on Hypnotique, which is a stronger tune of the album. I say this because the conclusive guitar melody at 3:46 is most humble and majestic at the same time. Not played perfectly, but played freely and emotionally. This guitar melody is one of the most memorable ones from the hundreds of records I've gone through. The lyrics are typical Paatos, in the verge of being overly naive. But the tune draws a picture of early 70s recording sessions with tube amps, moogs, organs, Fender basses, and simple drum sets to the listener's mind. The lyrical content goes through a period of growth and decay. The finale is grand. I sense a desperation growing with the mellotron wailing, a finishing bluesy flute solo.

Following with Tea, this somber mood continues, sung in Swedish in 3/4 time. The track starts with a memorable guitar melody, breaks into a piano and Petronella singing up front in the mix.
There are two major melodies here, the initial guitar melody and the one introduced with a mellotron. These two melodies are scattered around until united at the end. At 4:58 the band emphasizes this to a point of paralysis.

They Are Beautiful, now shifting more into the other half of Paatos' personality, pop-style straight-forwardness. The song prepares for the surprise track Quits, which blends quick electronica with fusion-jazz. Kingston Wall of Finland got into the territory of electronica fused with energetic rock on their final effort, Tri-Logy. Worth searching this band's albums, if you think modern rock lacks energy.

The lyrics on Quits are too naive, but getting past them will reward with a interesting over 12 minute finale. Towards the end the sequenced drums are replaced by Huxflux, just like on Stuldt Hajt on Tri-Logy.

Paatos: Kallocain (2004).1

Following their captivating Timeloss, Paatos from Sweden released Kallocain, a 9 track mixture of 70s jazz-progressive and 90s pop-structured and melancholic music. Think of Tillsammans (Together) film made darker and tragic, this is that soundtrack.

Gasoline starts off with a raw violin intro, continuing into a stable rock-vibed song. Holding On settles the mood down, with a great deal of keyboard presence and Petronella right in the front of the mix. Not much is left from the Timeloss style, which I found to be much more interesting and worth developing further into. Again violin is present at the end of this track to bring somewhat slight feeling of folkish mourning.

Happiness starts off promising with truly old-school Rhodes chords. It builds up slowly upto Petronella's taking over. The chorus is strong and catchy; "Suddenly my only friend is loneliness...", although Paatos never quite got it right with the lyrics. This catchiness will infact bring any hardened listener right back to the atmosphere Paatos has crafted on this album. As an important note, the name Kallocain comes from an iconic Swedish novel.

Absinth Minded begins eerily, with plenty of electronica flavor left over from Quits on Timeloss. It drags with a purpose as the title suggests. This song grows back into the "analog mode" with the band taking over in a massively airy finale, but it should've lasted few more bars longer. Notice Mikael Akerfeldt used the line "absinth-minded" on Ghost Reveries.

Look At Us is a straight-forward pop-song. If you're familiar with Cardigans, you'd notice the same juxtapose of music and lyrics; uplifting music fitted with mournful or depressive lyrics.
I can only speculate this album shares a lot of its ideas with the novel, having never read it.

The weakest track on the album Reality, now taking back to the eletronica style. The drum track is disappointing knowing what Huxflux has shown on Timeloss. The lyrics are barely convincing. The chorus seems to break the song in half. Only the final guitar/mellotron melody salvages the song. I can almost visualize the band boringly slapping this one together.

The highlight song, Stream is a jazzier song, more in the vein of Timeloss (I bring this album in this review a lot only because how good it is). Gone are the cold digital instruments, this one is pure warmth and longing. Especially the introductory piano which reminds me of the Nordic countryside. Mellotron is here for emphasis. Everything in this song is what Paatos is, it's definition. The guitar takes over with mellotron chords in the back. For a true progressive rock fan from Finland, the finale is impressive. Truly going back into the 70s freely moving music and massive mellotron chords, it is near perfect.

Won't Be Coming Back keeps the inspiration going, with a definitely worthy chorus. Huxflux's drumming is back to being colorful, lively. I'd rather not see Paatos releasing a third album with fewer and fewer of these gems.

The 9th and final song In Time, is a ballad of some sort, Rhodes, Petronella, and a flute. Around 2:30 the rest of the band joins. It is a lazy flowing song, that closes the record sinking into background.

The band plays music that's risky - the multiple styles of music present will divide the fans, and perhaps confuse some. They take the extremes, 70s progressive rock and the modern electronica, but what's in the middle, pop-songs, should just be left outside for solo projects instead.

Finntroll: Nattfödd (2004).1

The latest album from Finntroll starts off with a straight metal tracks Vindfärd and Människopesten, and you thought that's how it'll end. Near midpoint the song changes to a polka metal. The song again shifts into a viking melody, and then back to the verse. Don't forget how Finntroll started, with the sound of a humppa riff on a keyboard.

Finntroll's music has a minimal/obscure niche, and being Finn makes it easier to digest this cocktail of styles. Swedish is not a favorite language to learn for Finns, but Finntroll has chosen this language as their lingo brutalica.

Darkthrone: Sardonic Wrath (2005).1

Album dedicated to the memory of Quorthon.

Starts with the eerie Order Of The Ominous. It seems the gates of heaven are opening and the corpse-painted angels are about to prepare for the apocalyptic slaughter. The album remains at a steady pace of blasting anguish, from Information Wants To Be Syndicated to Rawness Obsolete. The sound is truly colorless, directly associating with the album art. Sacrificing To The God Of Doubt goes into a blackened jam, followed by Hate Is The Law, a somewhat punkish or 80s hardcore like kreation; a reminder of Napalm Death's early material. Rawness Obsolete reminds of Tommy Iommi's work in Black Sabbath. It drags past midpoint, appearing to ooze the last drips of nasal waste. No ballads, no serenades, only nocturnal void of hope.

Porcupine Tree @ Grove of Anaheim

I finally saw Porcupine Tree in concert. The great Robert Fripp opened up with his 4-delay loop guitar improvisation. PT played mostly songs from Deadwing, some great ones from In Absentia as well. A lot of the guitar sound from the two PRS guitars was heavily processed. PT does admit to using Line 6 equipment on their record, but it would've been better to hear them natural on stage. There weren't a lot of improvisation, PT played through their songs almost album-like. This contrasts with Fripp's complete improvisational concert.

Return To Forever

Pulled out few old fusion-jazz classics, and I found out Return To Forever's Romantic Warrior is still a brillant album. I've had it for awhile now.. Chick Corea on piano.