No Hawaii
Snake My Charms

Tracks
01. A Lovely Breed
02. Chuck Noir
03. Tunnel
04.
05. Isaul
06. Radio Magellanes
07. Technical Difficulties
08. Unleash the Kuru
09. E=mc2 (Kaospilot)


Band:
Jamil "Biggus" Pannee - vocals
Erik Ward - bass
Gustaf Albinsson - drums
Carlos "Gonzo" Ibarra - guitars
Jonas "Smejks" Pannee - guitars


Discography:
Debut


Guests:


Info

Released 9/6-2010
Reviewed 30/6-2010


Links:
nohawaii.com
myspace
parallel music

Sometimes I wonder how some bands come up with their band name, I mean No Hawaii, what kind of name is that? Sure it is no Hawaii, it is a band, it would be really strange to call a band Yes Hawaii or One Hawaii. And they are hardly from Hawaii as they are from Sweden and they have also managed not only to have a bad band name they also have a really ugly record cover for their debut album so initially they have a lot speaking against them from the beginning even if this does not matter at all for it is the music that is to be reviewed. The cover still have some meaning though, a good looking cover helps a little anyway.

“Just listen to Snake My Charms and find yourself at a loss for words” that is being stated on a banner on the band’s myspace site where there are some positive reviews for the band. A loss for words? How come I wonder, is it because of the amazing music or does it have anything to do with the wide spectrum of musical styles that are incapsulated in the music of No Hawaii? That is something however, that strikes you with the music, it is all from melodic rock to the quite extreme side of the metallic, quite hard to describe really but it is what I said, a wide variety of styles all mixed into one record encompassing nine tracks.

Track six is good. Track six is the only good track of this record, the rest is just dull but also just too unfocused, it makes no real sense most of the music of this record. It is like the band has just written short parts of music in different styles and then at random just thrown them onto the record and then thought it sounded cool. Sure they seem to have their own ideas and might be called progressive, but that is surely not a formula for success, or good music.

Of course the band has not just thrown in parts at random, I am sure that there is some master plan behind all of it, it is just that this plan seems quite well hidden in the illogical chaos that makes most of this record. You know, I usually like chaos and stuff, but this chaos has really nothing positive for me to dwell on and I find myself just wanting to throw it away but unfortunately I had this review to do so I had to listen over and over which really in my opinion should be classified as torture.

It just felt like a waste, every time I played this record it felt just like I was wasting playtime on poor music when I had a lot more, and better music to review. No there really is not possible to say much positive about this music and sure you say that I am just not understanding progressive music but I understand just right, many of my fave’s of all time are from progressive bands like Ayreon, Dream Theater, Queensrÿche, Fates Warning, Threshold and so on, the common denominator of these bands are focus, their music on each record is focused and does not pull away too much in any direction at any time. Sure many of this record has the same kind of diversity as this record, it is just that they are better mad so therein lies the problem, it lack of focus.

This record is just too long, too poor, too poorly produced, and so on in that fascion, there is really not much positive to find when it comes to this band, they are just plain boring with no real offer to me as music fan. I add a little to the rating due to the fact that this record has gotten some good reviews so something must be good with it, even though I cannot find it.

In short, No Hawaii means No Record.

HHHHHHH

Label - Parallel Music/Sound Pollution
Three similar bands - Neurosis/Mars Volta/Mastodon
Rating: HHHHHHH
Reviewer: Daniel Källmalm