WORDS BY LLOYD WAKELING
Klangstof
‘Godspeed to the Freaks’
Released Friday, September 16th 2022
Now admittedly, when I first saw the band name ‘Klangstof’ and was asked to review their new album ‘God speed to the freaks’ my first thought was, right, another ‘death metal’ mob of distorted and deranged musical anarchy that was going to deliberately attack my now old eardrums with a sense of foreboding, akin to that of knowing Putin still has all of his fingers left, that can and probably will, push buttons. Oh how wrong I was, oh how wrong!
Klangstof, a mixture of Norwegian and Dutch words and members, are far from any sort of ‘metal’ band and with their unique blend of electronica and acoustic, they sit beautifully away from any genre placing labels. Slick, off beat and sagiune, the tracks on this album, melt into a delicious mix of intimacy and familiarity that plays with the memory in so many ways. I found myself hearing so many inspired moments carrying the new and the old in equal measure, and yet the freshness of its sound was confident, assured and of itself.
After listening to this album I spent time looking at their previous offerings and they are definitely not ‘one hit’ wonders, no, far from it, Klangstof have many footprints in the sand that is this industry. Original, tight and seemingly determined, they pay homage to their heroes in a way that is subtle yet powerful, using a musical language all of their own making and wow do they deliver. The music is definitive and measured with each track complimenting its predecessor beautifully and with no bad eggs amongst the collective, I can’t recommend this album enough.
8.5/10
TRACK LISTING
1/ DEATH
2/ SEPERATED
3/ TRUTH
4/ THE ALARM
5/ GODSPEED TO THE FREAKS
6/ DEVILS LIAR
7/ PLASTIC GUN
8/ HOW I FEEL
9/ DISGUISER
10/ ALL OF MY REASONS ARE DISTRACTIONS
11/ SYLVIA
FOLLOW KLANGSTOF
My life is a soundtrack, i track my life through music, photography is my passion, my escape, my expression. Without both i have pieces missing, thankfully i’m blessed and get to combine both.
Born in Manchester, lived in Australia for 22 years where i was heavily involved in the Australian Music Industry, firstly in bands (Singer) and then managing bands (all original), I moved back to the UK, Wales specifically 10 years ago