SNOG RELAX INTO THE ABYSS ALBUM METROPOLIS RELEASE: SEPTEMBER 26, 2000 REVIEW: OCTOBER 16, 2000

Snog is back with a new album after their successful "Third Mall from The Sun". Quite a lot of the material on this album is remixed versions, which originally appeared on their previous one.
After a first look at the sleeve, I establish that they continue in the same visual style. Curiously, I feed my CD player with "Relax into The Abyss" and press play. The music is very uncommon, creative and funny. They seem to explore realms beyond the borders of certain genres by mixing styles and using their equipment innovatively. The music has its roots in the electronic music, but I wouldn't want to be the one to categorize this and why should I? Twisted, complex rhythms mixed with electronic sounds, samples and weird vocals are one way to describe, or at least indicate, how this sounds.
My favourite song is "Real Estate Man (Ubin Offer Affordable Solutions)", which is a clearly danceable piece with funky bass and something that sounds like female vocals. Another one worth mentioning is "State Rape (Beam up Battle Cross Channel Traffic)" with a very cool heavy rhythm, which feels familiar. The only song, which annoys me is the horrible Kraftwerk theft titled "Are You Normal Enough? (Francois Tetaz Conducts The Cacophanous Maximus)". Neither funny nor interesting. And obviously, most of the songs have very long and strange titles.
I feel that this album is somewhat tiresome and it's pretty similar throughout all the songs. Anyhow, this is a quite good and interesting release.

JOHAN ASTEMARK