Our Prehistoric Animals return with a new album released in May 2024, 'Finding Love In Strange Places' which is their fourth studio recording, and, after the concert 'Livefires' dating from 2023, the Swedes continue to take us into science fiction stories that they define this times like "a dystopian version of the film 'Love Actually'" with different improbable encounters such as employee number 10 who is on the verge of blowing up an entire factory when she falls in love with employee number 4. Musically, we we are immersed in a mixture of rock and progressive metal with a subtle mix between heavy guitar riffs and much more atmospheric passages which brings this good dose of progressive. On the melodic side, the Swedes offer us compositions that we get to grips with quite quickly, even if some require a few listens to get to grips with them.
'The City of My Dreams' begins the album with electronic sounds, then takes us into a catchy and energetic rhythm to continue with numerous changes of intensity and the melodic lines of the chorus make me think of the Germans of 'RPWL' (see the video above), then, 'A Bad Day for the Neon Gods' which is very short and which deploys a quiet atmosphere serves as a link between the previous title and the catchy 'Living in a World of Bliss' which brings us back in the 80s with electronic sounds and altered voices reminiscent of 'Buggles', is much more direct, moving away from progressive but is nevertheless very pleasant with its unifying chorus (see the video here). On electronic sounds of science fiction films, 'Unbreakable' takes us on a heavy mid-tempo which unrolls catchy melodic lines on which we let ourselves be lulled by the nonchalant singing of 'Stefan Altzar' who hardens his voice in the sections faster. After the second atmospheric comma 'Strange Place' with very beautiful aerial choirs, 'He Is Number 4' is a fairly direct composition with an alternation between energetic parts supported by muscular guitar riffs and much calmer sections showing all the talent of this formation for varied compositions which bring this very appreciable progressive side (see the video here). 'Come Home' is the third interlude which this time is a calm and light acoustic and which takes us to the last two tracks, much more progressive, with first of all, 'The Secret of Goodness' which offers us a beautiful progressive saga with several remarkable instrumental passages and parts sung magnificently by 'Stefan Altzar', the change of tempos in the second part bringing a nice variety to this title, then, 'Nothing Has Changed but Everything Is Different' which was the subject of a single several months ago, ends the album in a very beautiful way with a calmer composition which offers a very beautiful melody which stays in the head for a long time after the last note has passed, the guitar solo in the second part being a model of its kind (see the video here).
In summary, the Swedes of 'Prehistoric Animals' are releasing a new quality album with a nice variety of atmospheres which confirms that they have all the skills and talent to compete with the big names of the genre in this subtle blend. between rock and progressive metal, especially since the majority of the compositions on 'Finding Love In Strange Places' allow for fairly immediate listening... | |
