Les Lekin
Died With Fear

Austrian band Les Lekin are offering us their second album, an album they call Died With Fear. It features a grandiose painting on the cover, the name of four songs, three band members and some other information on the backside of the digipak. It is a trio from Austrian city Salzburg that call themselves Les Lekin and they are describes as follows:

“A room in an industrial area in Salzburg, Austria. Tuesday evening, 8 pm. After the neon suns have gone out, only candles light the place. You hear the high-pitched whine of the fully opened Marshall, the Ampeg fan going at full blast, and the rattle of a snare drum. The whine builds up more and more into a room- filling feedback noise. A fist hitting the body of the bass fills the space between with deep frequencies. The cymbals' attack becomes louder and louder. Then... silence... a stroke at the snare- drum. Three people throw out all they have, all they are, and all of what they have in them. Inspired by the desert and the moon, sand and space.”

That quote is a decent description of how the band sound, heavy psychedelic rock is another shorter way to describe the sound of Les Lekin. Four long instrumental tracks is what they are offering, not much variation and a heavy wall of sound meets whoever decides to listen through this album. Strong atmospheric feel, more perhaps of an industrial and mechanical sensation than the sensation of someone dying in fear is how I feel when I play through the album over and over. And there may be only four tracks but the album is full feature length, and to be honest I think these four tracks kind of blend together into one.

The album is pretty good I think, the atmospheres are strong and fascinating and even a little bit captivating at times. But there is too little happening throughout the album and I find myself somewhat empty and unfulfilled when it ends. Perhaps it is more satisfying for those liking the genre and the similar bands, I would have wanted more nuances, more depth, more black, more hope, a more dynamic sensation through the album as I think the good and exciting atmospheres are somewhat ruined by a monotonous wall of sound. Interesting sound, good atmosphere – that is my lasting impression of Les Lekin.

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