I don’t know about anywhere else, but it’s been a ‘scorcher’ here in the UK today, the hottest day of the year, with perfect sunny skies and with it being a Friday too, I almost feel a little optimistic about the state of things in the world. So maybe I need to balance things up a little, and Danish noise rock band Tales of Murder & Dust with their new single ‘Distances’ seem the perfect antidote, a band so murky and dark that I fear they might combust if exposed to direct sunlight.
But for me that’s where it all began, because my 1st ever ‘proper’ gig was the one and only ‘Fields of the Nephalim’ at a rather gruesome venue in Plymouth, where even the local dockers seemed terrified of the streams of shadowy black cladded gothic figures silently moving through the city streets. Or maybe they were just all allergic to all the flour dust.
So of course new track ‘Distances’ appealed to my straight away, and yes it’s dark and foreboding, but somehow they manage to maintain a stately grandiose melody, and the vocals, guitars and synths create an atmosphere that is compelling and rich in texture.
The track is from a brand new album, released just yesterday, and which they unsurprisingly describe as an ‘’intense, sombre journey’’. Entitled ‘Fragile Absolutes’ It was recorded over 3 years in the band's hometown of Aarhus, and ‘’in cabins in the desolate outskirts of North-West of Denmark’’. Not sure that’s how it’s quite described in the tourist brochures, but we get the picture.
It’s a pretty interesting listen, even though it might not be huge widespread appeal. I like title track ‘Fragile Absolutes’, but for me ‘Flawed Beliefs’ is the highlight, with the synths belting out a repeated theme until it’s completely reverberating around my mind. ‘Entropy’ even raises the pace a little, although I wish they would do that more often.
Anyway if you think that dark Nordic noise rock, with some psych and post rock influences, 'Fragile Absolutes' might well will be your thing, give it a listen.