VALESA - CHAPTER I: VELVET PRISON

I was pretty impressed with this band's 2017 release "Blackbox" but even more impressed with their live album from earlier this year called "A Night At The Library". On the heels of that live record the band releases studio album number five called "Valesa-Chapter !: Velvet Prison". Quite a change in musical direction with this one as they head straight into 80's Synth/Pop but with some Disco and Rock thrown in. The backdrop for this album is the 80's as they go into the politics of that decade. Jon Ivar the singer says this about this record "Synth anthems set in a disco of nuclear anxiety."

There are a ton of guests helping out including a female vocalist who has an almost squeeky high voice which contrasts with Jon Ivar's rich and powerful singing. I always put a check mark beside a song I really like and circle it if it's really amazing but I also put an "x" beside a song if I really don't like it. So a few check marks on this one but several "x" marks too. I can't get past the plastic. Synths dominate this and there's also a keyboard percussion instrument that I lament. Now it's not all like this as we get some tracks without all the 80's and Disco sounds but I can't get past the prejudice I have towards Disco being a teenager when it was popular and detesting it at the time.

I know some Avant bands who've implemented some of these Disco sounds to great acclaim but not from me, it's just too much to get past. I loved that they added "Jonah" to this record, a track introduced on the "A Night At The Library" album. It's a little different here plus they actually talk about Jonah a few tracks before on "Live Forever" which is so cool. "Behind The Next Door" is such a good track and I have to mention "MOMA" which is CARDIACS-101. Like a tribute to them because this is supposed to be set in the 80's?

I'm not going to say much more but 3 stars is all I got. Jon Ivar is one of those vocalists that is the price of admission. Just so impressed by him but as far as the music goes just not my scene for the most part.

I have been aware of this Norwegian band for some time, but the only album I had come across prior to this was 2014's 'Twilight Cinema', which was their third release, and I missed out altogether on both 'Blackbox' and the live 'A Night At The Opera' which have both been highly regarded. There was quite a change in line-up since 'Twilight Cinema', and the current line-up only contains singer Jon Ivar Kollbotn, bassist Eivind Gammersvik and keyboard player Christian Bjørknes who appeared on that album, and the current seven-person line-up has been greatly extended on this release with a large number of guests.

With 17 songs and a playing time of more than an hour, this is an album which is heavily dominated by keyboards and huge production, with arrangements and sounds that are very much rooted in the Eighties. Jon's vocals are gravelly and dominate proceedings, with the rest of the band set to allow those vocals to always be front and centre, and while there are progressive elements here, there is also plenty of pop. At times they come across as being heavily influenced by Depeche Mode, while the drums often sound as if they are generated by a drum machine as opposed to drummer Sondre Veland which is obviously quite deliberate. What lifts this away from being merely something I would dismiss (as I did with much of the pop scene in the 80's) is the quality of the material on offer and especially the vocals which lift this to new levels. It is not an album to which I can see myself often returning, but that has far more to do with my personal tastes as opposed to anything particularly poor with the album. There is no doubt there is something quite special going on here, with Jon being a star in his own right, and fans of this style of music will find much here to enjoy but I confess to not liking it as much as the last album of theirs that I heard.