As Monty Python would say, and now for something completely different.
Metal is a wonderfully massive umbrella term that covers an astounding variety of musical styles to suit nearly any mood. We use it to overcome a bad day, provide a dose of energy on a lethargic afternoon, comfort us at our darkest moments, carry the party to higher levels, and so much more. That being said, any real music fan has several other itches that need scratching. If you were to (re)visit the LR scribes’ Best of 2021 lists, you would find love letters to jazz, prog, classical, hip hop and many other genres that help us all experience a greater spectrum of music to further enrich our lives in ways that metal just sometimes can’t.
Fourth album This One Simple Trick is energetic, noodly, groovy, wild, tempered, weird and wonderful. If you were to tune down these guitars or cover them with a grimier production, you wouldn’t even question if this group was a metal band. Instead, there is a distinct ’70s pyche-rock sound that makes it all the more interesting.
New drummer Mårten Gustafsson immediately announces their heavy intentions with a surely “Painkiller”-inspired battering intro on “Fantastic Corps.” Those drums segue into a vibrant metallic riff that is pure energy you can bang your head to even if the tone isn’t ugly. About halfway through, the song slows into a breakdown that leads to a shimmery take on “Thunderstruck” via Yes before unleashing some true guitar histrionics toward the end. That slower, building middle part offers an interesting nod to Oranssi Pazuzu, which isn’t that surprising considering Niko Lehdontie supervised the recording sessions.
Kaleidobolt’s brand of heaviness comes in many forms. “I should be running” hits a purely punk stride at one point and sets the bass free to noodle some interesting improvisation. “Weekend Warrior” starts with warped notes before shifting into slower wailing riffs that sound like the song is slowly circling the drain. It even features what sounds like a serial killer’s take on an old blues-bar lead. After a slow moody build, “Border Control” hits the hardest with a straight-up thrash riff and flailing drums that return a couple times throughout the song.
As stated at the beginning, however, Kaleidobolt also knows how to reign it in and keep things balanced. After two wilder tracks, “Merja-Liisa” comes in like a shimmering beach tune funneled through mushroom hallucinations. The opening to “I Should Be Running” is a delightful desert jam complete with some maracas and bopping bass. Closer “Walk on Grapes” is a slower, more dramatic finish that offers a bit of moody angst and relief after the frenetic energy of everything preceding it.
My favorite track falls somewhere in the middle of all these elements. “Ultraviolent Chimpanzee,” aside from having a great name, has rocking riffs, underwater effects on the vocals, off-kilter notes, and a general sense of feeling like a 70’s band’s take on a Baroness song. This track is the most blatantly prog-rock-friendly on the album. The balance between heavy, prog, psyche, jamming and attacking can happen with songs paired together just as often as it appears in microcosms within a single song. The previously mentioned thrash riffing of “Border Control” is also accompanied by mid-paced riffs, a big circus chorus and a lethal dose of weird alien keyboards.
All seven tracks fall roughly between the five-to-seven-minute range. Past albums tended to offer some shorter tracks paired against one or two longer tracks. That format allowed the band to hit the listener with pure rock fury while also fully indulging their deepest prog tendencies. Each song on This One Simple Trick offers a better balance of their influences but doesn’t let any single track fully dive into one influence or the other. It will be up to you which method of balance is most appealing.
Ultimately, Kaleidobolt has created another high-energy enthralling listen that should appeal to any metalhead with an appreciation for heaviness that comes in unexpected forms.
