The Finnish retro-rock band Opus Symbiosis consist of Christine Sten (vocals), Victor Sågfors (guitars), Jafet Kackur (bass), Staffan Strömsholm (keyboards) and EH Lillkung (drums).They released their eponymous debut album in 2009 followed by an EP called Mute (see review). Their new album Nature's Choir contains nine tracks and in my opinion they're all a bit too mellow partly due to the female vocals of Christine Sten, whose voice is too pop-like and too mediocre to surprise me. Listen to the opening song Breaking News and you'll catch my drift, or maybe you won't... Downpour is a mid-tempo track with bittersweet vocals; it sounds like I heard this one before. Skeleton is rather funky, while Fkyna is a folky ballad which doesn't make any impression on me at all. One Day Seven Will Be Eight − what a weird title by the way − is a pop song with both male and female vocals and again it's very mediocre! The longest song on the album H-Bomb My Friend − again a peculiar title − is also the most boring one. It's a ballad-like track which goes on and on far too long and never really captures its listeners with something new or interesting. Well, this album is certainly not my cup of tea. I only have three words for it: boring, too mellow and predictable and so I rest my case. ** Martien Koolen (edited by Peter Willemsen) Where to buy? |
