Område
Nåde

Area with the album Mercy, if we are translating the title and band name from my native tongue Swedish, is the release I am taking on today. Område is a French band that appears to have a liking for languages as I find not only Swedish but Finnish, Icelandic, Turkish, Basque and Gaelic words among the readable things on this new release. It is the second album by Område and like the debut Edari it could be safe to assume that you shouldn’t really be sure of anything, other than that it is the second album by the duo. I think Edari was a rather brilliant album so I was rather curious about this album as well, and lets just write that I wasn’t disappointed.

I think discovery and vision are words that should be used when describing this album. They set out on a journey of discovery through post rock, avant-garde, depressive metal and many other directions and they do it with a clear vision of what they want to achieve. Having heard them before I think that they offer more or less what I was expecting, something dynamic and unpredictable. The music is fresh and relatively unique, the production and variation is great. The vocals span a variety of styles from aggressive growls to more atmospheric clean vocals spiced up with some female vocals. We also get to hear some wind instruments and all in all fifty minutes of music that is atmospheric, diffuse and exciting. The overall tempo is low but there are some slow parts here and there although the overall sensation is an on-going atmospheric journey,

This is a great album with great songs and I was very close to giving it six points which is a rating very few albums get from me. But the song The Same for the Worst kind of sets me of that mark, it is not a bad song and it even has some great parts but it is a bit on the slow side and does not really advance the story that stands still for minutes during that track. But besides that I think the album is excellently composed and has a great feel and flow to it, and all the songs are really good even that song. The best songs are the opening one and the Icelandic titled video track, and when the album ends there is not much else to do but make an order for an own physical copy of it. I can however see that Nåde may not have the widest appeal, it is a fairly difficult album and it requires both time and attention from the listener – and it does not contain any simple hit songs.

Nåde is for the connoisseurs of music, for those who doesn’t want to hear the same thing over and over, for those looking for something that stands out. Område have done such an album again proving that it wasn’t just blind luck that made Edari so great, they have something special and this is certainly one of the highlights of 2017 and I am sure it will remain so for the rest of the year. If musical creativity is what you are looking for, then you have a great prospect here; Nåde is a brilliant and exciting album.

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