Sound: This CD is the 5th studio album from Kashmir. This time the music is a combination of some strange chords and Kasper Eistrup's vocal. The sound is pretty distorted all the way through the album. Even the only ballad on this album, entitled "Ophelia," has the well known blend of blurry distorsion and the melodical but at times very strange chords from Kashmir. This makes the record reqognisible, but still it has a twist. A twist can't be explained but needs to listened to. Perhaps it's the producer, Tony Visconti, that has made the sound image on the album into this whole new universe of Kashmir. // 9
Lyrics and Singing: The lyrics on this record are circling around three themes (as Kashmir put it themselves) - "love, death and the decline of western civilitation." The last number on the record (No balance palace) is sort of a combination of all these three themes. They incorporate good with the sound on the song. The song has three sections musically, and so has the lyrics. In the big picture all lyrics pretty much match up with the sound and mentality on the tracks. Especially on third track where Kasper sings a duet with David Bowie. // 8
Impression: This album is by far the best Kashmir album to this date. Kashmir is danish band and haven't yet entered the international scene as much, but this could really be the big breakthrough for the band. My favorite tracks are "Kalifornia" and "She's Made Of Chalk." The first isn't a song about California, but a song about restlessness, that Kasper calls Kalifornia. It's the First track on the album and it perfectly combines Kasper's excelent singing with a really catchy and strange tune. "She's Made Of Chalk" is also Kasper's favorite song, and it simply just sounds great. I would recommend this album to everyone that enjoys a good rocksong and wants an album that they could listen to again and again. // 9
