Ølten
s/t

A Swiss trio with a Norwegian looking name, Ølten. This is their self titled debut EP, a four track instrumental piece that is said to be some sludge or post rock/metal thing. The CD comes in a lovely hand made case and looks very nice and maybe also environmentally friendly considering that it is not much colour on it. But what can we really say about these guys then? their website does not offer much and the mail didn’t really have much to offer either but I know they are swiss and that they are compared with bands like Cult of Luna, Neurosis and co.

It is a fairly raw album, it has a darkish and somewhat melancholic sound. Quite minimalistic I would say, the four songs kind of blend together into a storyline that flows from start to finish in what is a fairly short piece of music. Not much variation but it still flows and gets somewhere so it does not tend to become dull and it is too short for that as well. No vocals, and you will not miss them either as vocals would not fit this music. I think that we can call this a very good production for the genre, a very mature and solid production is my view when listening to this album.

Very good, that is how I see this EP. Also as exciting, like a journey for the creative thinker to have as background while creating, it is music that stimulates the mind in its minimalistic simplicity. No big gestures, nothing that stands out just a coherent musical adventure through moods and through exciting pastures. I like this EP, it is as I stated earlier in this paragraph, very good and has no weaknesses. I think you could safely purchase it if you enjoy the bands I have named or the genres I have named, if you do not like those genres then I doubt you will find this overly appealing either but you still might as it is better than most in the genres I mentioned earlier.

Maybe some would see the lack of a hit song as a problem but on an EP like this I do not think that a hit song would add anything and this is a style of music that does not really lend itself to that kind of thing anyway so it is no problem. I think that the overall feel and the flow of this EP is very appealing and I would recommend anyone who likes the same kind of music as I do to take a look at it, it is well worth doing it. I did run the CD quite a bit in the car and if there is a negative with this EP it is that it isn’t very good driving music as together with road noise it becomes a bit tiring.

Anyway, after reading this review I am sure you head straight for the best place to get yourself this product and you buy it, music like this deserves to be heard.

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