Seigmen

Enola

Written by: HES on 03/08/2015 13:58:26

Seigmen are legends in Norwegian rock, within the same size category as D-A-D or Dizzy Mizz Lizzy in Denmark. The group disbanded in 1998 and haven’t released an album in 18 years, and in spite of frequent reunions and appearances, the band has not been tempted to go back to the studio until recently — the beginning of the story of this new album “Enola”.

Seigmen stick very much to what we knew them for back in the 90’s: the band is named after a popular Norwegian candy, but the soundscape is far from sticky and sweet — rather it’s dark and heavy. Unfortunately, it is also repetitive, and the lyrics are on an unforgivable level, which might have passed under the radar in the 90’s, but now stick out like a sore thumb in the hyper-reflective 10’s: “Ikke steng det inne. Ikke les mine tanker. Det klarer jeg selv. To skjebner. En sjel” (or in English: ”Don’t hold it in. Don’t read my thoughts. I’ll do that myself. Two destinies. One soul”).

The album is not an unpleasant listen though. Instrumentally, the combination of dark backdrops and soaring electric guitar work extremely well, but the songs suffer from a constructional lack of inspiration, leading to songs kind of washing over into one another, and choruses that would have sunk into oblivion if they weren’t so repetitive they almost have a brainwashing quality to them. I read a review of the album by Tor Martin Bøe in the Norwegian newspaper VG, and he describes the sound and mood of “Enola” sublimely as “pop-gothic”. That is exactly what “Enola” is: dark, but bombastic; littered with overdone lyrics and emotional redundancy. It’s the lazy option, the same formula as the band used almost 20 years ago, but it is also what the band is known for.

Hence the album will probably enjoy good sales in Norway because of the nostalgia surrounding the band – just as Dizzy Mizz Lizzy’s newest singles have done fairly well with the Danish audience. But when held to international standards, as we like to do at this publication, I wouldn’t suspect Seigmen to now finally get their international break with this album. And frankly, sometimes it’s also fine just to stick to your guns; the applause, however, is likely to be a hesitant one when you pull up the same rabbit from the same hat after a 20 year hiatus.

6

Download: Monokrom, I Mitt Hus, Forevig Og Alltid
For The Fans Of: Mogwai, Ljungblut, God Is An Astronaut
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Release date 13.04.2015
Indie Records

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