Område is a very interesting, avant-garde band that remind me the most of Ulver
but also slightly like Manes. The band does list both bands as influences and
that’s what drew me to them. They do remind me of those bands. Part of that is
the band’s unwillingness to stay in one place and the other part is the mixing
of ambient, jazz and trip hop with a post rock structure. Of course this
blueprint changes song to song on their new album "Edari."
The opening track "Mótsögn" uses a trumpet behind a very thick haze of synths. It’s a song that drifts along but remains quite uneasy as it does that.
"Mann Forelder" is a mix of trip hop and death metal. Well the vocal in the back is a death vocal but the rest of the track is firmly trip hop. “Satellite and Narrow” is along the same lines as the opening track, the trumpet returns.
"Åben Dør" opens the door to very twisted and strange almost tortured trip hop.
"Friendly Herpes" (great track name) reminds me a bit of Enigma, starting with a very ethereal vibe before transitioning to an
up-tempo Anathema vibe.
This sort of
adventurous music seems rare, even in the progressive music world. Thankfully Ulver came along and threw out the rulebook completely so that bands like Område
could explore. They use whatever instrumentation they feel fits their ideas and
really have a creative approach. "Edari" is a very interesting, complex album that will please any fans of unique bands like the ones I mentioned.
