Q.Age
Stop the Clocks

Stop the clocks! Hold your wrist-watches, here comes Q.Age! And I actually think it seems a bit like someone has stopped the clocks when I play 'Stop The Clocks' because those 39 minutes ended very quckly.

Otherwise it's the movie Dark City that springs to mind when I see the title of this album, all though both front cover and song titles suggest everything but that and as Still I'm Sad kicks off the album it sets a kind of emo like tone to the album that circles in the heavier rock regions. This is the second Q.Age album that's released and I think most of us missed the first album. Partly because it was released on the bands own label with pretty poor distribution and partly because it was very different, and not as heavy as this one. However, if you are a fan of heavy rock then you should do your uttermost not to miss this one as well.

This album is the second part in a series of four that symbolise how Cosmin Maricas interpreters the four seasons according to his own life and experiences. There are big differences compared to part one but also between different songs on this album so you can't really be sure what to think about the album if you don't hear it in its fullest. But do not think that the album lacks a thread through the songs and if you search the web a bit you'll be able to find the songs from the first album and even though the material on that album is very different I think you'll find a few similarities as well.

The biggest difference comes from how the band have a male voice on this album, while 'Songs For Your Lonely island' had a female voice in Senta Studer. While Cosmin Marica is the only remaining member after the spectacle that happened to this band around the release of the debut when the manager of the band ran of with Studer all of sudden to make a private career for her. And with a new voice it's normal to get a new sound to the music and the change has made Stop The Clocks' heavier and also somewhat faster. The piano ballads that came every now and then on the debut is here reduced to just one single track and that's made it much more noticeable appearing as track six in the middle of the album, just after what I think is the best track on the album - Stand Up.

However, to be an album that's suppose to represent the spring, which is a time of life, growth and things happening I must say I find this album very dark. It's good, but a bit somber. The first album was suppose to symbolise winter and that was a bit melancholic, yet not as dark as this one. Towards the end is where the most positive tracks has gathered and I also feel like the tempo gets a bit faster successively towards the end after Mountains in the middle. And the end at 39 1/4 minutes almost feels like it sneaks up on you as you're suddenly there. Somehow I believe that this is the point as the band probably prepares the summer album by not concluding anything at the spring so they have to induct a new album and season. So instead of closing this album properly they can just continue where they left off when May turns in to June.

Anyhow… what have we concluded so far? If anything? Well, for once that 'Stop The Clock' is a very good, dark, album. It's emotional and rich of references and ideas but lacks real structure but without getting chaotic in any way. I think it's an exciting adventure and as I said already in the beginning of this review I think it's an album that fans of heavier rock really shouldn't miss.

 

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