| CD REVIEW Intwine |
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Band : Intwine I know, you may have only recently read a review about this Dutch band’s “new” album…but you see, our editor-in-chief got himself a deal to do the band’s Belgian promotion, and therefore he felt it couldn’t hurt to have the album reviewed by 2 of his people. Also, I tend to put in quite a bit more effort in my articles than your average music journallist! So, in 2001 five pupils (singer Roger Peterson, guitarists Jacob Streefkerk & Kevin Hessink, bassist Touché Eusebius, and drummer Erwin Gielen) at Tilburg’s music school Fontys Rockacademie (considered the Dutch equivalent for the famous American Berklee Colleges) join forces to form a contemporary Rock/Metal quintet, and start composing songs together almost immediately. The following year, in an effort to promote his band, the singer enters the Dutch Idols contest, reaching the finals one-handedly, resulting in his being approached with a record deal as a solo artist! Undaunted, and believing in his band whole-heartedly, he refused and concentrated on Intwine instead. The band released its self-titled debut album in October 2003; it went up to the #17 position in the Dutch charts, lasting a good 21 weeks! Single “Happy?” even made it to #3, but was not quite representative for the rest of the album, which displayed a nice mix of hard but melodic Metal guitars, and the Reggea roots of the band (three of the members at the time, of which Peterson and Streefkerk still remain, came from the Carribean Antilles). Further successes of the debut include the band being nnominated at the 2003 Belgian TMF Awards, winning an Edison Award (Dutch Grammy equivalent) in the category “Best Album Of the Year”, and performing at the Pinkpop festival. Sophomore album Perfect is released through V2 in October 2005, again reached #17, but this time lasted 28 weeks in the charts. The first gigs outside Holland occur, and after a festival show in Istanbul the single “Cruel Man” (released in 2004 as the title track for Dutch movie De Dominee)hits the #1 position in the Turkish charts, resulting in even more invitations to gig abroad, and a sold-out performance at Rotterdam’s stadion Ahoy, where the quintet (then already re-inforced with extra (but temporary) percussionist Ferdinand van Duuren, and with new members Rocheteau Mahuwallen and Jon Symons on drums & guitar respectively). Again, the band is nominated for an Edison Award, and again they play at Pinkpop. During the next year, the band participated in the first of the now annual Rum-Shop Session event (acoustic concerts on a small scale, reaching 150-200 people at a time) at the Carribean island Aruba. The band also has it’s third record Pyrrhic Victory out on V2, but due to the internal struggles the label was going through at the time, the album got near to no promotion at all! So the band promoted the album themselves, managing to get it to the #43 in the charts and releasing 3 singles on their own. Also during 2006, the band collaborated with K’s Choice Sarah Bettens for a remake of the hit single “Not An Addict”…and released the single “Feel It” as title track to Ducth movie Nachtrit.Seen the situation, the band then sued the label, lawsuit which ended early 2008. Meanwhile they had been on the look-out for a new label, and mid 2008 they finally got contracted by the German Tiefdruck Musik. As mentioned above, Kingdom Of Contradiction is a compilation of reworked versions of songs which were previously featured on the band’s first three albums…except for a renewed collaboration with Sarah Bettens on the totally wacky cover version (the only really recognizable thing about Intwine’s version vs. the original is in the lyrics, because otherwize both music and vocal melody lines have been altered) of The Police’s “Walking On The Moon”…and if you get a chance to listen to that track, dó! Other material on the album: 3 tracks ( “Ravensclaw”, “Sorry”, and “Sleep In Silence”)off the debut album, 5 off Perfect (the title track, “No Ones”, “Cruel Man”, “Slow Down”, and “You”), and no less than 7 off Pyrrhic Victory (which ain’t really surprising). In contrast to the beginning of their career (which started with a moody ballad), first single “Perfect” off this album (b-side tracks are “Walking On The Moon” and album opener “Cookie Jar”) is also the band’s heaviest track to date…but ballad lovers will still be served a nice portion with “For Goodness Sake”, “You”, and the album’s hidden bonus track. To my personal taste, the band uses a nice Rock basis and mixes in some Metal elements to make for something which is very close to Grunge. Although lead guitarist Jacob’s role in the whole should certainly not be underestimated, it’s the singer whom has the starring role here! On top of simply being a great singer, he’ll let through his Reggae roots in some songs, then he’ll use only a slight accent, and in other passages/ songs his English will be flawless…which makes for a nice vocal variety. With a total of 16 songs (and one hidden track – each and every one a winner on its own) you’re getting a 71-minute album, which is a quite unique thing in these days of fast-consuming, quick buck earning commercialism! To check out the band’s “new” sound, surf to myspace.com/intwinemusic, where you’ll find 2 tracks off the album alongside an edited version of another (also on the album)! You’ll have to agree, this is Top Class, the likes of which would stand proudly on a stage next to, for instance, Pearl Jam!!! 98/100 Tony. |