Noise // Review
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CD: Pretty Ugly Released: 03 November 2003 |
Noise were formed by two brothers Einar and Stefan Vilberg in Iceland back in 2001. Iceland, renowned for geysers, blue lagoons and, now, dodgy banks, had only ever really found worldwide fame on the music scene with Björk until more recent years. Things have changed more recently with the emergence of Sign, Sigur Rós and Mugison making waves across Europe. Hard on their heels are Reykjavík based Noise.
Their debut album, called Pretty Ugly was released in 2003 and boasts a grunge-like feel from the start. Old skool Nirvana and Pearl Jam immediately spring to mind. The opening guitar part to track three Closing In could be lifted straight from Kurt Cobain’s book of songs; very reminiscent of Come As You Are. Other tracks, the start of Hangover for example, have almost goth sounding guitars, which is compounded by some very clear bass guitar in places.
Einar Vilberg’s vocals are very raw on this debut album, it sounds like he’s slicing his vocals chords with a serrated knife on some of the tracks, but it’s passionate and there’s something quite mesmerising about his voice.
The track Freeloader makes me think of Courtney Love’s Hole getting into a fight with Mudhoney. If Noise had been around in the late 80s they could have been huge on the grunge scene on the back of this album.
Review by Lynn Wyeth
Track Listing
| Pretty Ugly |
[01] Paranoid Parasite |
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