The Weight
In Control

They claim to be in control, the band who call themselves The Weight. The new album is only theirs; no compromises and they claim that the bands that has longevity are those who doesn’t care for conventions as there are already enough marked-conformed products out there. The press material makes for a good read about individuality, stating that the album is challenging with progressive touches and many other things. I find black text on red paper makes for less than comfortable reading but in the end the band claims that they are on the right track artistically.

Musically they are looking backwards, rather than forwards as their music feels like something from the earlier days of rock and perhaps the progressive rock. I think of bands like Zeppelin, The Who and many more from that era in the late sixties/early seventies when I listen. Those guys had longevity and some albums made from them are timeless classics, and a few albums down the line ends up being very memorable but one common ground for those memorable album is that they have a tendency to stand out like a beacon and you know immediately that you are listening to something special. This album doesn’t qualify in that regard, the music feels like déjà vu, just because it was long since this music was made doesn’t make it less market-conformed than most other copycats out there. I think their individuality takes them down a tried and tested route and I doubt that even they can claim that this stands out compared with other old rock music.

The songs are okay, but I have never really liked this sound, the oldish, I always liked the more pomp and progressive bands of the seventies and early eighties – stuff like this have always sounded old and boring to me. A great album either gives us some amazing songs or a tangible sense of novelty, preferably both, this album gives us neither. The songs are ordinary, some good, but the overall sense of this album is that it passes without making much of a mark.

When I think about it, I have to wonder if the press text really is about The Weight. They seem to agree with me about how the music is usually some bland, cowardly, tried and tested thing that isn’t really up to the task of making a mark, that it is already more than enough of this out there. Then they claim that they do their thing, but their thing isn’t really anything that haven’t been done to death already. Sure, there is already so much music and more or less everything has been done already but it is still possible to make a fresh impression, and it is also possible to perfect something already done into a mastery of the craft. The problem is that this album by The Weight is more of an addition to that smoothly ironed and market-conform that they speak ill of, than something fresh and exciting.

HHHHHHH