Published on May 27, 1999
With this job, I listen to anywhere from 10 to 20 albums a week,
on average. With such a busy schedule of listening to discs, one
would think that it’s rare for me to be surprised by a new album.
Generally, this is true, but there are those moments when I feel
I’m listening to something totally unique and different, that it
makes me snap to attention.
The latest band to do that to me was Clawfinger, a Swedish
outfit who could be hard rock’s answer to Public Enemy. Whatever
preconceived notion you may have about this band, you may as well
drop them at the drawer of the CD player, ’cause their self-titled
album takes you on a trip that even the Autobahn can’t match.
The band, led by vocalist Zak Tell, is very much a hard rock
outfit, but the lyrics are often delivered in a format that
emulates, but doesn’t copy, rap music. It’s an interesting take on
the scene, and is one that is remarkably fresh-sounding. Simply
put, Clawfinger is like nothing you’ve ever heard.
From the opening moments of “Two Sides,” I found myself raising
my head and asking, “What the hell was
that?!?” In this case, such a revelation is an excellent
thing, and Clawfinger make the most of their time in the CD
changer. Songs like “Not Even You” and “Everybody Knows” are
certain to blow away the listener.
What is interesting is that the powerful music on
Clawfinger hides some occasionally strong lyrical content.
Again, we need only look as far as the opening track “Two Sides”:
“There’s nothing a god can give to me that I can’t give to myself /
I put my beliefs in the things I believe and a god can take care of
himself.” If you take the time to read the lyric sheet, you might
be surprised at some of the things that Tell has to say, but in a
way, I think that he needs to say them, whether or not the listener
agrees with them.
Clawfinger is supposed to have one track which, when played
in your computer’s CD-ROM, allows you to mix it in whatever way you
choose. I have not been able to find that song on my copy of the
disc, so I can’t tell you if this is a good or bad feature.
Whatever the case, it is intriguing.
So where does
Clawfinger fit into your album collection? Fact is, there’s
not a clear-cut line, though the music does border on the hard rock
side enough times. What the listener will have to do with this disc
is to keep an open mind, and not try to pigeonhole Clawfinger into
any one category as the disc progresses. If you do, be prepared to
have your mind changed within a few tracks.
Clawfinger is an album that took its sweet time coming over
to this side of the world, but it is a welcome addition to American
music collections.