Haltefanden Naar man taler om Trolden • Playing time 25.00 minutes
Tracklisting:
- Trolden
- Feber
- Klaffernes Tunge
- Onde Hjerter
- Krisen Krasser
- Kragernes Fest
- Smuk Hals
Haltefanden is another Danish quartet from Copenhagen. But Kim Fredriksen (drums), Jes Larsen (rhythm guitars, vocals), Lars Mårtensson (bass) and Palle Sohrbeck (lead guitars, vocals) offers the thriving national scene something quite original ... they dubbed their band with an old Danish word for the Devil, this name often used in fairy and folk tales when he appears in the human world ... and they're not here to be kind.
Musically it is the at a glance odd but then again not so far fetched mixture of most notably grunge, hardcore and punk with the occasional nod at metal, thrash metal and plain, simple rock 'n' roll. They digress even further from the mainstream by insisting in writing and singing (shouting) in Danish, which is a good choice, judged by what I hear here. It certainly is a breath of fresh air ...
The overall picture is seven down and dirty, sharp, short and tight songs, often fast and furious, but with space for breaks, a changing in the pace both ways and the occasional solos, all in perfect combination. Musically irreproachabel, but the songs could do with a bit more variation on the vocals - as all this shouting gets a little tiring - and lyrically I believe they have the abilty to go even further.
That is to say, that Haltefanden at this point easily blend a modern day spoken Danish with an older, otherwise soon-forgotten vocabulary, referring in one place even to our famous fairy tale writer H. C. Andersen. Needless to say, that they already by this have something a bit different to offer. They clearly aim to offence, scare and shock, but their rather delicate way with the pen makes it somewhat pleasurable at the same time. I could do without the adolescent rape fantasy found in "Smukke Hals", ghoulish, for sure, but also too easy, too queasy. No, I don't mind the macabre stuff, but I encourage (come on, now) them to grow up and use their weapon with a bit more consideration ... in other words: You can do better than this ...!
Four of the seven tracks calls for special attention:
Opening and title track "Trolden" (=The Troll) hits you like the proverbial kick in the head and is proof of everything good the band has to offer: The tribal like drumming sounding a bit shallow, lots of energy, fast riffing, endless changes of the pace, and shouted vocal with more than your middle of the road lyrics to boast from; they display a great sense of the supernatural in the real world.
"Onde Hjerter" (=Evil Hearts) has a beautiful, slow paced, very Metallica-like break half way through and it's pure pleasure to hear how they have managed to blend it in to and with their own style.
Lyrically is "Krisen Krasser" (~the crises is beginning to bite) not up to level with the rest, and I'm not at all referring to the slight misspelling in the title ... for some reason that seems intentional. But musically this - almost the shortest track on the DEMO - is also by far the most experimental; especially the vocals differs significantly from the rest of the album.
Best track of the whole lot is "Kragernes Fest" (~feast of the crows), an almost non-stopable up-tempo piece of the kind that not only possible can but most certainly will tear buildings apart from the inside out, and the veritable shark bite sharp prose to boot. It is excellent ... and for me a guideline for their future work, not least lyrically.
Haltefanden can be examined closely at MySpace; hear the complete DEMO plus a handful of new songs written in succession to the documented recording sessions. If so inclined & intrigued then Naar man taler om Trolden can be downloaded for free at their site at bandbase.dk. It is something else and very enjoyable now, at this point, but I believe they hold the possibilty to expand to exceptional or beyond.
