KALLOCAIN

"Kallocain" is the second full-length studio album by Swedish progressive rock act Paatos. The band features ex-members of Landberk and Agg. "Kallocain" was released through InsideOut Music in 2004 and is notably produced by Steven Wilson (Porcupine tree, Blackfield, No-Man...etc). Since the release of the debut album guitarist Reine Fiske (Landberk, Motorpsycho) has been replaced by Peter Nylander.

"Timeloss (2002)" was quite an interesting progressive rock album, but while the music on "Kallocain" is unmistakably the sound of Paatos, the band have still made major changes to their overall sound. The debut album featured a predominantly retro progressive female lead rock sound, but combined that sound with more contemporary elements (at times trip-hop influenced). On "Kallocain" the scale has tipped towards a more contemporary sound and artists like Massive Attack, Portishead and especially Hooverphonic are to some extent valid references, although there are still quite a few organic progressive rock traits in the music (the use of mellotron is for example rather prominent in the soundscape).

The material are generally well written although some tracks don´t stick as well as others. Repeated listens of course help, but there is a tendency that some of the more unremarkable tracks on the album sound like pale clones of the best tracks. One of the great assets of the album are the high level musicianship. These guys are seasoned musicians and Pertonella Nettermalm has a pleasant voice and connvincing emotional delivery which suits the music well. A special mention is deserved for the drum performance by Ricard Nettermalm. While his drumming on this album is generally a bit more restrained than on the debut album, his playing is one of those special features which provides the music with an extra dimension.

"Kallocain" is a well produced affair, which isn´t surprising given the fact that it´s a Steven Wilson production. It´s fairly organic and pretty well sounding, although I do partially blame the production for not being able to make all tracks stand out equally. To my ears it´s a combination of occasionally weaker songwriting and the production of the tracks that´s an issue. While not all tracks are equally memorable, which of course is a slight issue, Paatos have still overall made a good quality release with "Kallocain", and a 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.