I forget if I managed to write at all about this album or not, but I figured I not only owed it to myself, but also to the band themselves. Klank is actually not a stranger to me, not in the least! in fact he may very well have been my introduction and further development into the genre known as industrial. OK so that might be a stretch, it could have been Circle of Dust, but if you look into their music, Klank himself was involved there too! ‘
For me my first exposure to Klank was through their Still Suffering release. And let me tell you that album got heavy rotation, and I even turned on some random people to their sound as well. For better or worse that album, jaded me and it was sadly a determining factor why I lost interest in the band. Because well, I liked it so much, I just wanted that formula repeated over and over again.
See with Klank each release they do manage to shake it up, and mix it up enough, to where its honestly hard to pigeon hold them, or to derive them into a single formula. I think with this offering here Unholy and Divine vol. 2 its case in point.
With their sound now, it still manages to include the heavy guitars, even some angry and borderline guttural vocals. It doesn’t fail in including some of the trademarks you would expect from Klank. But with their newest forgoing it does border into maybe pop? dance? I am not entirely sure myself, because its so foreign to me. And unfortunately for me, its not something I particular enjoy. The synth arrangements and swinging dance ballads and clean oriented singing a lot of it just touches on some uncomfortable territory for me.
Don’t get me wrong, all in all this release is more mature and ambitious, and I do not mean any disrespect or negativity. If anything, its lack of growth in myself. But I will not candy coat it, or try and massage ear lobes. I like what I like. And to me, they had it perfect with their sound in Still Suffering.
Something I do like in this album, and have always liked about Klank is that for a christian professing band and artist. His lyrical approach and the themes and topics he touches and speaks about. They are new and interesting. And it isn’t your average run of the mill kind of lyrics you come to expect in a lot of christian oriented music.
So how do I rate or judge this? I am really not sure, its definitely DIFFERENT. And even after a year or so now, I am still not 100% sure I can give it an honest opinion of whether its a hit or miss for me. Something I wont deny, I love Klank! he is a great personality and fun person to speak with. And I love to see him being creative with music.
https://klank.bandcamp.com/album/between-unholy-and-divine-vol-2 (good luck getting this release! it looks like its completely sold out)
if you have been searching for the interview I did a while back, hang tight I am working on re-uploading a lot of the old and abandoned content again.
