Ølten
Mode

In 2013 I reviewed a brilliant debut EP by Swiss band Ølten, an exciting band with an exciting debut work showing great promise and exciting ideas. This time they once again have this different cover art and also a name for their album, it is called Mode and has six tracks and 40 minutes of playing time. Some will call it an EP but I think that it is an album being that long but the question is whether or not they have managed to make something out of that initial promise.

Musically it is said to be “bigger, crunchier, heavier, louder, longer and Ølten-er” and maybe that is true, for you no knowing the band I can describe them as quite heavy, slow moving mainly instrumental music. There is vocals in one of the tracks but nothing else and the music is something like sludge, post-metal or whatever those in the knowing like to call this kind of music. Not so varied but they still manage to create diversity in small variation which is a feat in itself. I think this is a well-made album; the sound is strong although I would imagine that some might find the lack of bigger dynamics to be something of a problem. For those of you knowing the first release by these guys I can point out that this does not really differ that much from that first release – it is kind of the same idea again.

There is no doubt that this is a strong release, I like it even but I also think that it lacks the feel of novelty as was presented with the debut release. Some might argue that the relevancy is a bit less than the debut as well and I don’t really think that this album is better than the debut either; it is of a similar quality and therefore loses my peak interest quite fast. I think they should have taken a step away from what they did before but I doubt the fans see it the way I do, I review and they listen and those two things differ quite a bit. The novelty is needed to peak the interest and it isn’t there as we heard it the first time we heard Ølten.

So, is it pointless then? Not really, if you are a fan of Ølten since their debut album I think you will find this release interesting as well, it is good enough and Ølten enough for that. I like the mood and atmosphere and think that this is a fairly enjoyable album even though I would have liked them to step further away from the debut album, I know these guys have the ability – but it is one thing to be capable to deliver something and another thing to actually deliver on that promise and that is something they don’t quite manage as well this time.

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