All the way from Malmo in Sweden comes Lex Maria, and being in the mood for some Scandinavian punk, we hit the download. We have four tracks to review here, running to 24 minutes.
It’s available as of June 30th on all platforms, and there is a link here you can download from.
This is the second EP from the band, recorded at the indie favorite Studio Möllan in Malmö, Sweden. Lex Maria is a band that hails from the famous bathing resort of Malmö, located in Southern Sweden. Lex Maria (I read from the press release) plays cat image influenced, sexually frustrated alternative rock. Noisy rock and alternative rock of the late 80s and 90s are what they grew up with and have always been present in their music.
“After getting our PhDs and then working the hamburger joints around town , we decided to risk our dazzling careers and sell our souls to the bewinged kitten demons of rock,“, says the band.
So I wasn’t really sure what to expect here, as I didn’t know what “sexually frustrated alternative rock” (ooh, er) was going to sound like.
But here goes the review!
Ghosts- A slow buildup, melancholic, with acid in the vocals. It has a late punk sound, musically, with some touches of The Stranglers in the guitars and this animal style jungle beat. It gets the EP off to a grungy punk groove, with your reviewer giving it a nod of approval. Some good throbbing guitars at about the ¾ stage received a thumbs up.
Knives/Shards- “Stick your fingers down my throat” go the lyrics for this one, a track going back to the punk sound of British bands in the 80s. Again, the drums are up in the mix and provide this throbbing beat that anchors the track, and it switches rhythmically again around the ¾ stage, where we get a solid instrumental section. It makes for an interesting track.
Carpathia Waves Goodbye- Carpathias rings a bell somehow, I think the Carpathian Mountains are where Dracula lived. But I digress, this track is heavy in sound and builds up toward a big sound. I liked the guitar breaks and the instrumental breaks.
Plague or Pain- This one plays with a heartbeat sound, plenty of echo, and a heavy groove. It’s the longest track on the EP, coming in at over six minutes, with vocals full of pain and the angst of the beat.It’s loud, unapologetic, and kicks the listener hard to close the EP.
“We say we are an indie punk band playing some sort of alternative rock, but we float in and out of these genres. We are 90s noise, 80s post punk and some 00s emo in our own way. Aleks, Nelly, Martin, and Martin. Aleks with the hat is the singer. Aleks and Nelly play guitar, and the Martins play bass and drums. Many times life is hard, and we just want to play because that makes you feel better, and we hope to reach people out there who like this stuff.” – says Lex Maria.
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That’s a fair comment, I would say this EP and band do have appeal for all those into a post-punk and grunge sound. This reviewer is more toward the melodic punk sound, so this was a little outside my usual listening. However, the musicianship is great, imaginative, and often experimental. The instrumental breaks are really good, and the drum work is classy.
By: Stevie Ritson
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