Boil
aXiom

Boil is a Danish band and this is their third album album. As they released their debut some six years ago there was plenty of nice response and many saw the band as a great hope for the future. With this album, I really think the Danes has fulfilled those expectations because when you hear those really grat songs on 'aXiom' it's hard to deny the Danes being great songs writers and likewise great musicians. 'aXiom' gives us music that's dark and progressive and the first thing I notice is how great the vocals are. Jacob Løbner is the man behind this amazing voice and he goes through the layers of different song styles like he had a thousand voices going through the whole scale of everything from hell-like growls to high pitched clear vocals and great midrange. I think Løbner reminds me a bit of Anders Fridén in In Flames, to make a name drop, but with a wider range and much, much better in both growling and clean vocals.

However it's not just Jacob that shines in this band, the band behind him makes a great job doing quite simple music sound really complex and varied. They get this massive changes in style and tone done in a short period of time and they do it flawless. There are songs that gives us the whole scale of things but also parts on the album where you get it in different songs. I find myself most enjoying the opening foursome with the songs Sphere, At The Center Of Rage, Sever The Tie and Moth To The Flame as well as the closing track Almost A Legend, which is the songs I'd probably say I like most of them all - making it a real treat at the end thus inviting you to give the album another go. However, there's not just gold in the 49 minutes because some of the 12 songs gives us less flattering sounds and they are located scattered around the middle parts of the album. Blink Of An Eye is one of these, to some extent probably affected by having the amazingly catchy Moth To The Flame (and the first three songs before that) just before it. I also think Heretic Martyr and Sunbound are noticeable weaker than the rest of the songs on the album, but I wouldn't say they've made an error having them on the album because for one thing it might just be me who dislikes them and secondly I might not have liked the rest of this album as much without them. Without them I might just have thought the album was dull and flat? Well, speculation is unnecessary - the tracklist won't change from it and the end result is still mostly positive.

Most of the album is pretty slow or in the lingering mid-tempos but now and then it takes a dramatic turn in tempo on certain tracks and parts of them. I feel most of the album is like a sweeping wind, blowing through a mountain landscape but every now and then we get something radically different for a while or so - like really mad and crazy fast or aggressive changes that arouse you from an almost dream-like phase you've been caught in. I feel it's mostly a quite beautiful album, elegant almost, but then it also shows this ugly side of it. A side that's filthy and rough and flatfooted, that clumsily elbows through to wherever it's heading and disturbing the otherwise so polished facade. Overall 'aXiom' makes a good job "hiding" these rough edges and the total impression is still that they control the music but I can't help thinking it would have been better had they not had these songs because when it's at its worst I almost completely loose interest for 'aXiom' but then immediately we get something good from the album and all is forgiven. Especially when you get such an amazing finish to the album.

It's not the first good album released in 2013, but of the ones I've heard I'd say Boil and 'aXiom' is the best so far. I've already mentioned five songs I really like (and three I don't) and I'll mention another two that you really don't want to miss out on, which are Equillibrium and the almost eight minutes long video song Vindication. And with this I've mentioned ten of the twelve songs on the album, which isn't something I do on a daily basis and probably gives you an idea of how touching this album is - memorable all the way through and even when it's not so good, it still turn ears and reminds us of its presence. Sure, these weaker songs are lowering my total impression a bit, but not so much that I deny it's one of those rare gems you only get a handful of each year. It could very well be the best Danish album I've ever heard - at least it's the best I can name from the top of my head - and that should be evidence enough of how great it is. To me it's the first "must have" of the year, so go check it out! Immediately.

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