Band : Celan
Album Title : Halo
Label : Exile On Mainstream
Distributor : Southern Records
Release Date : August 2009
Review : CD

From the first track, you really know that you are listening to something special. Celan’s Halo is a freightening combination of industrial, drone, indie, guitar, hardcore-, electronic, noise-, amp/reptile Unsane-rock. Like the famous book ‘Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance’ this cd is an adventurous, bizarre and interesting journey on which main founders Ari Benjamin Meyers (Redux Orchestra and Einsturzende Neubauten) and Chris Meyers (Unsane), side kicks Franz Xaver and Phil Roeder (both of flu.ID) and Niko Werner (Oxbow) take us. It is impossible to classify.

”A thousand charms” and “All this and everything” with infectious choruses, steady Cop Shoot  Cop/Tomahawk rhythms, functional noises and superb aggressive (no screamo) vocals are solid material. Slower tunes like the darker “Sinking” , “It’s low” and especially the closer “Lunchbox” have a terrifying trance-like quality providing this disc with subtle diversity. “Wait and see” and “Train of thought” sounds like something of the Jesus Lizard-albums. Ministry, Mind Over Four, Neurosis and Morphine wander through my mind while listening to the more crunchy tracks “One minute” and "On my way". To be honest, when I first heard this band I thought I heard tens of hints and references to several bands of the 90’s, and that’s normal if you look at the member’s band activities, but Celan is now and they fashioned, intensified and deepened their sound out of their bands.

Keep an eye on this one

90/100

Cosmicmasseur.