Klimt 1918 | ‘Just In Case Well Never Meet Again’

If you’re going to grow out of metal, fair enough. Some great records have come our way from bands who just feel too creatively restrained within the genre. The key though, is to give it edge, and it’s hard to know whether this Italian crew have it.

Kilmt 1918 have been hinting at something like this for a long time, granted. They’ve always exhibited a tendency toward the likes of Red House Painters (see what I did there? you did, you old devil) and The Cure when compared to contemporaries like Novembre, who’ve largely stuck with the programme. And while there are some extremely complimentary reviews on this particular album about at the moment, it’s truly hard to really concur.

Why? Well because it sounds like Snow Patrol. Each song, rather than dwelling in some misery or otherwise hinted at discomfort, sounds positively happy. So does power metal, you might say. But this band are just too evidently reaching for that post-rock sense of uplift and euphoric crescendo without enough of the threat beforehand. It’s all gone excessively indie feeling. It’s instructive to return to a record like Thine’s ‘In Therapy’ to see how a metal to pop transition can be achieved with nothing lost. As far as this one goes, it’s just a little soft unfortunately.

2.6 / 5 - Ciaran Tracey ::: 21/08/08