It’s tough enough to keep up with all the musical genres these days let alone all the sub-genres. My intellectual capital was therefore enhanced by the knowledge that I had just listened to a “spectral noise-rock quartet” from Denmark called Salli Lunn.
Even so, I’m not quite sure what the difference is between spectral noise rock and conventional post rock self indulgencies. Repetition is used a lot here to build up a song even through the song was doing just fine before it got dragged out past the five minute mark. Further reinforcing the appearance of pretension are the intense, almost tortured vocals of Lasse Skjold Bertelsen that sit on the verge of the mix often being overpowered by the concussive percussion. Likewise, the guitars are layered thickly but without any particular melodic purpose but I suppose that may be why this band claims to be spectral noise-rock rather than post rock.
It’s not that this is a bad album – because it isn’t – but it is a distinctly conventional album underneath its artistic pretensions and it wouldn’t take too long to find a comparable rock band in any Midwestern metropolis. When Salli Lunn hit their groove (as in “The Invention of Steel” or “Belongings”), they do exhibit a near hypnotic effect on you but it has to be said that a fair chunk of this album relies on reinventing the wheel.