Pitchfork

I first suspected that there might be something amiss when I saw the phrase, "AMEN TOTALLY ROCKS!" at the bottom of the band's press bio. Now, I take the description "TOTALLY ROCKS" very seriously, for it is my duty to you, loyal Pitchfork reader. I must discern these finest of details-- it's my job to ask: "Does Amen TOTALLY ROCK, or do they merely KINDA ROCK?" These may seem like fine distinctions, pal, but it's upon these fine distinctions that we shall build this review.

Amen are a Swedish metal band. Stop laughing now, the Swedes can rock as well as anybody. I went out with a Swedish girl once-- she didn't really rock; she was more into Depeche Mode. She had long, curly, blonde hair that she would throw around to "Personal Jesus," rocking in her own unique, Swedish way. Many Swedes have long, blonde, curly hair, which is, of course, perfect for rocking. Except that it tends to make most of their rockers look a bit like Sammy Hagar. But no one can deny that Sammy rocked, at least at one time. Anyway, I don't know if Johan Israelson or Carl-Michael Herlöfsson-- the brains behind Amen-- have long, curly, blonde, Swedish rocker hair, but the way their press pack proclaimed their ROCKingness, they ought to.

Musically, Amen fall somewhere between Stabbing Westward and Mansun. They adorn their metal with dark ambient electro touches and dissonant squeals, presumably to accent their ROCKing nature. But the band is comprised of seven members (give or take), which, in my eyes, makes them more of a collective than a band. Now, I haven't heard many collectives that "TOTALLY ROCK," but Amen could be the first. I won't count their burgeoning numbers against them.

Sunglow, though, runs a narrow breadth between mainstream industrial techno (circa 1993) and heavily distorted, layered pop-rock. A number of the riffs point my brain directly to Stabbing Westward's 1993 effort, Ungod. Self-absorbed, simplistic lyrics also point back to industrial days of yore. Of course, a few of the tracks are more low-key, with layer upon layer of vocals shored up by pretty synth tones. Yes, I said pretty.

And with that, I conclude that Amen's Sunglow does not TOTALLY ROCK. It does make a fair stab at merely ROCKING, but to say it TOTALLY ROCKS would be a gross exaggeration. I mean, it's got "pretty synth tones," which on its own would knock Amen out of TOTALLY ROCKing territory. It's not an awful album, though-- they're obviously competent musicians and programmers. But a press writer who would say they TOTALLY ROCK either hasn't heard much industrial techno, or is severely lacking in integrity.

The biggest downfall of Sunglow lies in its lack of ambition and depth. Sure, it could be said that all of the songs are good, but frankly, I would be embarrassed to put Sunglow on the stereo at any gathering populated by ROCKers or even non-ROCKers. For the most part, this shit's been done a hundred times before with more creativity, verve, and yes, more ROCK!