Kaizers Orchkestra - Evig Pint (special)
SKU
02-Farmens 9812
Great, unique and pretty damn cool Norwegian group who are apparently quite well known and loved in their own country and pretty well unknown outside of it. They use elements of Eastern European music along with Beefhearty rhythms (as later borrowed and interpreted by Tom Waits) and a sonic pallete that includes instrumentaiton like vocals, guitar, bass and drums but that also heavily features pump organ & accordion). The final result is like a Tom Waits-influenced Hory Kone/ Alamaailman Vasarat. This was their second album.
"Norwegian sextet Kaizers Orchestra reside in the gray area between Scandinavian death metal, traditional folk, and Tom Waits-inspired Tin Pan Alley pop. Their second full-length, Evig Pint, is the soundtrack to a nightmarish carousel that refuses to let off its 12 terrified children. Those 12 tracks are fueled by a sinister pump organ, alley-can drums, and a brutal horn section that sound like a klezmer group on the banks of the river Styx. Vocalist Janove Ottesen sounds like a man possessed. His ability to go from a gentle Thom Yorke whisper to a full-throated Apache war cry is jarring -- you can hear the spit flying from his jowls on the terrific opener "Di Grind." Kaizers Orchestra, renowned for their cathartic live shows, have managed to create a record that balances the production with the off-the-cuff intensity that so many bands fail to capture in the studio. Each time the organ begins to pulse it's the air in-between the notes that sets your hairs on end, a trick that's used frequently but effectively on Evig Pint. When the band tones down the cacophony, like on the hypnotic "Min Kvite Russer," it's not so much a reduction in fury as it is a beast in a different body. That all of the lyrics are in Norwegian matters little, as Ottesen's inflections are more than successful at getting his point across, resulting in a record that should have no problem connecting to -- and will most likely succeed in converting -- the masses on a global level."-James Christopher Monger/All Music Guide