Review Summary: There must be something more…
If there’s anything I can say with certainty about Pil&Bue’s latest album, it’s that it starts off strong. More importantly, it starts with a twist. Every album released before by the duo opened with a bold and loud song, featuring big guitar sound and extremely emotional vocals bordering on over-acting. However, “You Have Chosen Darkness” opens with a careful and melodic song which sees the band fully embracing their pop sensibilities. It is not something completely new, as the band dabbled with softer sound before, and its members always proclaimed that catchiness is as important for them as heaviness. Still, this time the band takes a step further and “Somewhere In Between” sounds like a product of collaboration between “Placebo” and “Manchester Orchestra.” The fact that the band chose this track to kick off their album made me think for a moment that they’ve finally decided to take a detour from their established sound and produce a record that consists entirely of softer indie rock songs. Which would have been an interesting development and a welcome refreshment, but this illusion did not last long.
As soon as the second song “222” starts you realize that the band’s signature meaty guitar sound is back, but the time for experiments is not over yet. On this short yet impactful song we see the duo moving as close as they probably can to the hardcore punk territory (perhaps if their singer had a grittier/gruffier voice they could’ve made a complete transition) with some leanings towards Thrash Metal in the drumming and the riffs. This is certainly the band’s punkiest track, also reminiscent of short and fun thrashy bangers such as “Seven-Headed Whore” by Iced Earth. Finally, the third song “That LITTLE Sting” comes along to reinforce the impact with powerful tribal drumming and anxious guitar buzz accentuated with those soft wordless vocalizations which the band’s singer Petter Carlsen always uses for the more atmospheric and quirky songs.
Unfortunately, at this point the album loses its steam. “Everything is Over… whelming” is built around a simple guitar refrain, which, while nice and catchy, gets repetitive and grating very soon, as it keeps on going for the whole 6-minute-long runtime of the song. As for the remaining three songs, to me they feel like a solid but less engaging retread of what we’ve already heard. However, at this point, I feel like I’m passing a very subjective judgement. I won’t be surprised if some of you would prefer the crunchy riff of “ShadowCasters” to the punkish energy of “222” or reverb-laden experimentation of “… and chaos for all” to indie rock feast of the opening track. However, the issue is a bit bigger than just individual songs. On the one hand, there are no straight-up bad songs on “You Have Chosen Darkness” and the level of enjoyment you’d get from them is a matter of your personal preferences. At the same time, even Pil&Bue’s previous album “Special Agents” already felt like the band has settled too firmly in their comfort zone, and their newest effort reinforces that feeling of being stuck. That feeling is emphasized by the fact that the band actually shows us its ability to branch out and evolve at first. Even the album’s lyrics reinforce that impression, as finding or offering “something more” is mentioned throughout the LP in at least three songs. Still, the band manages to sustain the drive towards something new only for the first couple of songs, returning to their established sound later on, as the album progresses, which leads to diminished impact. If you are new to the band, “You Have Chosen Darkness” is quite a good place to start, but I would recommend checking out “Forget the Past, Let's Worry About the Future” first.
