Search - Lengsel :: The Kiss, the Hope

Keeps you guessing

Steven J. Schultz | Nowhere of consequence | 09/18/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"While all of Lengsel's members are also in Extol, they certainly sound nothing like that band. Definitely on the progressive side, more akin to the weirdness of a blackened Frantic Bleep meets ZAO, no two tracks sound the same.

'Anonymous Phone Call' starts out quietly, building and releasing with the same riff for eight minutes, a little Neurosis-esque. This segues directly into the firestorm of 'Hell Calls Hell', which refers (to my ears anyway) Mayhem and classic Ulver. A great track.

'Miss S.C.' follows immediately, beginning quietly again, then mutating into ZAO/Zeni Geva territory. 'Åndenød' is up next, a sort of pretty ambient track with brutal distorted noise slathered all over it.

Then we're treated to the wacked-out shuffling post-blues of 'Tales of Lost Love', replete with finger snaps and brush work on the snare, done in a way that would make Captain Beefheart proud. I love it, don't get it, but love it nonetheless.

'A Little Less to Heal' goes all chaotic metal again (ZAO does Burnt by the Sun) with an echo-y freakout "breakdown"....

-infinity symbol- is another chaotic metal track where bits of noisy black metal and post-hardcore interact. This is follwed by 'The Warm Water Chaseway', a lovely post-rock number featuring lots of delayed-out guitar abuse. And then, with 'Angels in America', here comes the straight blastbeat, accompanied by semi-distorted guitar chords and then some spoken word stuff in French (I think), and then more blasting!

'The Pale People' meanders along in blurry echoes with just two riffs that sound very similar, makes me think of a lo-fi Cure with too loud drums.

Finally, the album closes with 'Avec tOi' (sic), accordion backing up more cathartic Neurosis-like wailing that never gets resolved.

Almost arty to a fault, 'The Kiss - The Hope' is many, many miles from Lengsel's relatively straight-forward black metal debut, and has nothing to do with anything Extol has tried. I enjoy this record quite a bit, though hesitate to recommend it. The fact that these guys are unashamed Christians will of course put most people who like this sort of thing off from the get-go. And that's a shame. I hate it when a band works this hard to do something this out-there only to get slagged for espousing 'unorthodox' ideologies.

For fans of the unpredictable.

Peace&Love"