El Caco – Hatred, Love & Diagrams

Categories: Reviews

Originally Published on: January 25, 2012

According to the press release for this album, El Caco is a Norwegian ‘institution’ that the Norwegians have been keeping guarded from the rest of us. Having been a band for over a decade and with four previous full length and various shorter length releases, their debutant offering to the rest of us is heralded (by the press release) to be their ‘Magnum Opus’; incorporating all of the finer elements of the members’ individually eclectic tastes while remaining true to the band’s unique identity.

Well, the first thing I have to say is that I never realised what a damned selfish bunch the Norwegians are. The second is that if they have anything else this good that they are keeping concealed, I demand immediate disclosure to the rest of us right now!

El Caco do indeed integrate a nice array of influences into their, as described on their facebook page, “Premium Norwegian Hard Rock!” All the while not sounding derivative and maintaining a cohesive, honest sound throughout this brilliantly self produced offering. (The press release credits Daniel Bergstrand with helping out on the “finishing touches”)

Right off the pole, they hit you with ‘After I’m Gone’, a song that has pretty strong essences of Led Zeppelin, Helmet, and Tool without ever settling into any one enough to make you fully realize it. In other words, you can’t really compare it to any particular song by any of these bands. This, to me, is the key to a good band; don’t deny your influences, use them, but never succumb to imitating them. This is how you make your own sound, and El Caco have succeeded strongly on that front.

The second song ‘Hatred’ moves nicely into an almost Bauhaus, 80s feel while still maintaining a authoritative rockin’ foundation and an uplifting melodic chorus section that fits in with the vibe of the whole album perfectly. They take you on this kind of subtle, almost minimalistic transitioning from feel to feel throughout your audio journey; introducing new elements all the way through.

This power trio have managed to create a huge yet spacious sound-scape for us to enjoy on this epic ride. This is only helped by the extremely first-rate musicianship they hold on all fronts; bags of talent (Øyvind Osa on bass and vocals, Fredrik Wallumrød on drums, Anders Gjesti on guitars) that are aware of their role within the whole. I would like to point out their strong points, but for the sake of time, it might be better to try to point out a couple of the negatives for me on this album.

Øyvind Osa’s vocals are wonderfully strange as they manage to morph between the edge of breaking in his higher range (sounds both delicately pleading and angsty with some uniquely creative vibrato moments) through a warm, smoky, ballady mid-range into a strong throaty roar that has the power to flatten cities. I actually love his voice. I wish I had it! However, he lets himself, and us, down a bit on the last part of track 4 ‘Equivalence’. Here his normally natural and authentic sounding vocal becomes forced and a bit contrived in its almost Hetfield-esque mock tough guy way. His voice is definitely strong enough to not need to do that.

The other negative for me is in the closing piece ‘Disconnect’. A great song, as are the rest, with fantastic use of dynamics, tension & release, and emotion. Yet, for some reason they have chosen to allow this particular song to suddenly lose momentum and weight at about the half-way point. The music is still extremely well written and performed. Once the drop in momentum and weightiness happens there is still a great unison riff on bass and guitar followed by a strong build up of breaks back into a chorus that, rather than ending with force, kind of fizzles out. Because of that, for me, putting this song in a position other than the end would have made for a better choice, but then again, perhaps they are making a statement with this interesting choice of ending.

That said, El Caco manage still deliver an overall masterpiece that keeps you engaged from beginning to end; keeping things interesting and challenging without becoming obtuse and most certainly never boring. By incorporating their collective influences into their own style and sound, they truly have set themselves apart.

I must admit that when I read the glowing, flowery praise in the press release for this album, I was expecting to hate it. Now, I happily admit I was completely wrong in my pre-judgement. These guys are indeed exceptionally talented musicians who know exactly how to use their eclectic influences to give us such a magnificent Opus. I need to make sure I have a copy of this for my next spring/summer drive up the California coast!

Now, how do I convince them to send me their back catalogue to review?