North Atlantic Balkan Express

• Artist: Kismet
• Rating:
• Release Date: 1999
• Total Time: 47:38
• Type: Lyrics are included with the album
• Genre: Electronica

Review

Laibach fans, pine no more! If you miss the slow, shuddering chord progressions, the martial/industrial beats, the sepulchral lyrics declaimed by low voices in Slavic languages, then you've come to the right place. Kismet is a duo that hails from Macedonia, and to be fair, the Laibach comparison (while inevitable) isn't altogether apt. Kismet tends more towards exotic ethnic instruments where Laibach indulged in Wagnerian orchestration; Kismet's sound is tight and disciplined where Laibach's was sometimes bloated. On "Red Zurla," a ponderous guitar-bass-drums rhythm is overlaid with a keening reed instrument of some kind, and the sung lyrics alternate with wordless warbling. There are cover versions of Pink Floyd's "Main Theme" and of Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart." The band's own lyrics, it should be noted, are pretty awful -- "Blind Dog say the man/He is coming down to kill your soul," like that. But the music is harmonically and texturally complex enough that you won't care that much about the lyrics. ~ Rick Anderson, Rovi

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