International relevance: ***
Swedish vocals
I seriously have no clue what these
people are on about, and quite obviously, neither do they. Judging by
the cover version of ”Larks' Tongues in Aspic Part II” included
as a bonus track on the 1993 CD reissue of their album (the only one
they made, thank goodness), they were die-hard King Crimson fans. I
also sense a slight Magma influence on tracks such as ”De fyra
stånden” and ”Bara du”, a bit of Zappa on ”Ur spår!”, and
possibly some Samla Mammas Manna on ”Gånglåt till Peson”. But
unlike any of those, Myrbein have no basic comprehension of
composition, constantly getting in the way of themselves, helplessly
lost in the hodge-podge of ”complicated” time signatures they
stack up like a pile of dung. Here and there, they add some kind of ill-conceived ”new
wave” touches which – believe it or not – makes this stinker
even worse. One of the track titles asks Ӏr du
förvirrad?” – ”are you confused?” Well, you tell me.
Listening to ”Myrornas krig” is
like listening to a mathematician trying to explain the principles of
the universe without even knowing how to add 1 to 1 and get a proper
result.
For a much more appropriate sample of lesser known Swedish early 80's art rock/RIO, try ”Barndomens stigar” by Kultivator,
released in the same year by people who at least could tell a chair
from a fork. ”Myrornas krig” is the kind of stuff that massacres
art rock so bad it will never again recover from the injuries. Still, plenty of people like it, more people still will, but to me this is just a never-ending torment.
I think it´s wonderful!
ReplyDelete:-)