UNGDOMSKULEN
CRY-BABY
EVER RECORDS
WORDS: AW HENDERSON

Cry-Baby starts out with it's best song, so this review will too. "Ordinary Son" introduces the listener to Kristian Jan Erik Stockhaus's sinister falsetto, Øyvind Solheim's hang-ten percussion and, perhaps most salient, Frode Kvinge Flatland's ranging, broad-muscled bass. The song is structured for propulsion, channeling a very nervous energy into each movement, of which there are several. The transitions between these movements demonstrate not the dissipation, but the transmutation of this energy between forms: brooding, frantic, self-destructive and blatantly aggressive. Welcome to Ungdomskulen.

This trio aren't afraid to stretch things out, with only one of the seven tracks here clocking in at less than 5 minutes, and the first two songs sailing past the 7-minute mark. It is to their credit that they can navigate fourteen minutes of bass- and guitar-driven rock without succumbing to the ever-encroaching prog tendencies. Technical proficiency is abundantly evident, but the tone of these songs places them much more squarely in the punk rock camp. It'd be kind of pointless to bring any more genre distinctions into comparison, as the whole point of this band is how they buck classification. "Modern Drummer" taps into the same vein of antsy guitar that makes "Ordinary Son" such a great opener, but is much more straightforward, reminiscent of the more stripped-down tracks from Liars' self-titled. In fact, when Ungdomskulen works best, they sound something of a sister act to the band that Liars have become, regardless of the fact that these Norwegian lads had never heard Liars before they recorded their debut. Good ideas are good ideas, no matter which continent they're from, and the mix of layered guitar squeal and restrained pacing and melody are a very good idea, indeed.

The band's sense of humor comes through lewd and clear on songs like "Glory Hole," whose lyrical content you can pretty well guess at. The video for "Modern Drummer," embedded for your insanity, shows a side of the band perhaps not entirely captured in song, but at least it's hinted at. (If the image of a mustachioed red-headed Norwegian in a bear suit doesn't tickle your funny bone, you're dead to us.) The rest of the album falls out pretty much how you'd expect -- there aren't a ton of surprises, but luckily the thesis statement at the beginning of the album is strong enough for the whole disc to ride out on. I wouldn't go so far as to say that this album is a revolution in rock music, but it was different enough to turn my head, so I feel fairly certain it's different enough to turn yours.

Modern Drummer: