MADRUGADA - Grit

A monument to caged rage, violent and jarring, "Grit" is the third album by Madrugada, the Norwegian combo fronted by the baritone voice of Sivert Hoyem. A merciless, aching record, yet already a classic in the way its grooves prove to us that Oslo isn't so far from New York after all.

"Grit" is a profoundly different album from its predecessors: those approaching it for the first time will struggle to recognize the same lineage. Where the first two were absolute monuments to the baroque of the soul, descents into hell like a Nick Cave shipwrecked in a stormy ocean, barely arpeggiated guitars, a cavernous and sensual voice, aching lyrics about love and betrayal, basslines wandering through catacombs and Black Sabbath-esque dances around a bonfire of damned souls (ah, the tender, fragile and erotic woman on the cover of "Nightly Desease", never such a fitting depiction of the music it contained), here the guitars turn aggressive, obsessive, and only rarely does a glimmer of peace surface among the grooves.

Starting with the opening "Blood Shot Adult Commitment", and all the way down to the inevitable ghost track (a vertiginous metaphor on human damnation, like a Tom Waits in conversation with demons), the album is a concentrate of devastating hits that nonetheless retain a sickly charm all their own. In between, the single "Ready", raging in its grunge stride, the soul apotheosis of "Try" and "Come Back Billy Pilgrim", the paranoid crescendo of "Got You" (beautiful and sorrowful), the fierce "Seven Seconds", with its chorus burning among the volts. The dreamy "Majesty" and "I Don't Fit" close things out, the only link to the more distant past. But above them all stands one track, the one that shares its name with the band, track number 4, Jim Morrison is resurrected and he's singing to us of heaven and hell.

We're not prepared to say whether this album marks a step forward or not: on their third outing, Madrugada decided to change course, and the result doesn't disappoint.

Having abandoned the fruitful partnership with John Agnello, this time the production falls to Frode Jacobsen, and the difference, for better or worse, is palpable. We therefore await the next step with confidence, eager to find out what new shores the band will be able to reach. Either way, you can bet we'll be watching closely.

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29/10/2006