Anders Friden (
In Flames) on Vocals, Niclas Engelin (Gardenian) on Guitar, Hakan Skoger (Headplate) on Bass and finally Patrik J. Sten (Ex-Transport League) on Drums.
OK lets just put the Gothenburg buzz word out there and you can already have an idea of what's going on here. Anders is in full glory here as he pulls out every bit of his multi-personality vocals. Niclas doesn't forsake his heavy roots by tuning up his axe in "standard" tuning either. You may have heard tinges of buzz about this album already. Don't let Pop, Rock or any other "light" classifications fool you. This record is heavy! There are moments of pop glistening about the place, but it's wrapped in a heavy blanket of death metal distortion. Patrik's drumming is a slamming onslaught much like Henry Ranta of
Soilwork achieves. Bass guitar is low and heavy and perfectly compliments the blistering rhythm section. Keyboards are thrown in as spice and mood conductors. Some of it, sampled sounding loops but it all works rather well here. The genius here lies in the notion that Death metal roots can be incorporated into pop and rock structures. A melding of styles that may have been attempted somewhere before but has never worked like it does in Gothenburg's micro-nucleus of bands like
Soilwork,
In Flames and now
Passenger. To say that Anders has a Midas touch would be no misnomer. He just can't help be inventive, creative and generally a true artist with a complete grasp on what he's doing. Don't let that compliment shine a brighter light on him than the other gentlemen at work on this album. I'm sure Anders understands that no man is an island in the metal field. That being said, these guys work as a band on this album and you would never know this is a debut album for
Passenger.
Now I'm going to throw out my honest opinions here......when I first popped this dude in the player I was impressed by the opener track
"In Reverse". It smacks of
In Flames'
"Cloud Connected" type structures. Then track two
"In My Head" flipped me out. A stark difference from the
In Flames inspired opening track. This is where
Passenger makes it's mark as
Passenger. A difference I wasn't exactly digging on the first two spins. I tried to listen to the rest of it but ended up taking it out and putting it aside for an hour or so and then spun it again. Better this time but it still didn't make it all the way through. I decided to give myself a day or two before giving it another spin. They say the third time is the charm.....in this case they are right!
I have been chewing on the genius of
Soilwork's Figure Number Five and so in between listens to
Passenger I was banging my nutty head off. I just threw
Passenger in for that magical third time and it hit me like a ton of bricks:" man this record is awesome". So if you are smart and give this band your money to entertain you, give it more than one listen if it doesn't quite get you at first. I have often found that some of the best albums that have come my way were not at first likeable. Hence the reason I give everything I review 10 chances to reveal themselves to me. Reveal itself,
Passenger will......sounded like Yoda there didn't I? Well I'm past the ten listens and
Soilwork will have to fight it's way back into my player for awhile.
Passenger is good my metal compadres....very good....in fact, quite outstanding!
Written by
David Monday, July 21, 2003
Show all reviews by DavidRatingsDavid: 8.5/10Members: No members have rated this album yet.
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