Released: 2021
Size: 112.4 MB
Time: 49:01
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Styles: Jazz/Prog Rock
Art: Front
1. Analogue Injection [3:12]
2. Bloody Moon [4:55]
3. Skvulp [5:00]
4. Music in the Dark [7:44]
5. Question [4:48]
6. Story [4:48]
7. The Count of Godthaab [5:30]
8. After the Dark [4:00]
9. Electronic Factory [9:03]
On the cover of this, his second solo release, veteran Norwegian guitarist Børge Olsen looks every inch the rock god.
Long black hair? Check. Leather jacket? Check.
The music, on the face of it, seems to fit. So why is it being reviewed in London Jazz News?
Well, it’s described as a fusion of jazz rock, prog and metal. However, Olsen’s interpretation of jazz fusion is, in parts, what you might call metal-adjacent.
It’s adjacent to other styles too and that’s the secret of this surprisingly accessible and stupidly fun album.
The crunching riffs and thumping double-bass drums on second track Bloody Moon might make you think this album is as far away from jazz as it’s possible to get.
Indeed, the 64th-note hard rock shredding on third track Skvulp – Olsen is famous for his left-hand technique, the press release notes – is more Steve Vai than Pat Metheny.
But then on title track Music in the Dark one finds slower tempo, picked notes and four-to-the floor drumming, keyboards and soft vocals tempering the blistering playing. A Return to Forever-Opeth-Dream Theatre hybrid which has some merit, especially when the bass kicks in.
Tracks like Question and Story move the album closer towards jazz-rock territory and the complexity in the song construction across the album does tip its hat towards this.
Music In The Dark