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Skitliv - Kristiansen And Kvarforth Swim In The Sea Of Equilibrium While Waiting review



Reviewer:
7.0

2 users:
6
Band: Skitliv
Album: Kristiansen And Kvarforth Swim In The Sea Of Equilibrium While Waiting
Release date: December 2007


01. Who Will Deliver Us From Gold & Planets
02. Slow Pain Coming
03. A Valley Below

Skitliv. The living abortion, spawn from the mind of Maniac (ex-Mayhem), in collaboration with Kvarforth (Shining) among others. Translating to as much as "shit life" in English, that’s exactly what the music is about: straight-forward, ruthless hate, sickness and misanthropy. Why express pain and torment through poetry and melodic misery, if it's nothing of the sort? Depression is a vile disease, a pestering cancer, infecting and torturing the soul. And Skitliv stands for just that.

But how do you translate that into art? The line between sick brilliance and pure shit is a thin one, and nobody knows exactly where it is located. Skitliv dwells somewhere in the grey, misty fields of no-mans land that lies on both sides of the border.

In the intro "Who Will Deliver Us From Gold & Planets" they are obviously on the wrong side. Maniac is famous for his strange types of vocals, but in this song he really swings and misses. I can see he's trying to express madness here, by constantly repeating the same line and supposedly going insane, but it just fails to convince. And yes, if you fail to deliver madness it does sound rather pathetic.

This is only the intro though, and fortunately the other songs "Slow Pain Becoming" and "A Valley Below" are much better. Maniac has some weird vocals for us in store once again, like it or not. While they are still far from evoking a "sickening bliss", they are at least dark and, mostly through the guitar work, fuel for hatred. Their music is a reflective mixture of doom, black and feedback and focuses on the Maniacs own thoughts and delusions. It all blends together as a pretty loud sound.

Is that interesting for everyone? No, probably not. But for some it might be. If you can break through the barrier of lame kvlt and grimness that surrounds this demo, I think you'll at least be able to enjoy the last two songs. Keep in mind that this is only a demo, and not an EP or a full-length. That's also the reason why I am giving them the benefit of the doubt right now. Let's give them some time, because they do have the potential to someday come up with something really good, or at least something unique. That is to say, if they don't go down in their own delusions, before that day comes.


Rating breakdown
Performance: 6
Songwriting: 8
Originality: 7
Production: 7





Written on 06.09.2008 by If you're interested in extreme, often emotional and underground music, check out my reviews. I retired from reviewing, but I really used to be into that stuff.


Comments

Comments: 10   Visited by: 127 users
07.09.2008 - 03:27
Doc G.
Full Grown Hoser
Huh, always wondered what happened to Maniac. Sorry to hear it isn't that good...still a bit curious though.
----
"I got a lot of really good ideas, problem is, most of them suck."
- George Carlin
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07.09.2008 - 03:35
Insineratehymn
Account deleted
"Kristiansen And Kvarforth Swim In The Sea Of Equilibrium While Waiting"...

Waiting for what? their mother to pick them up from school? the mail to arrive? What are they waiting for? Somebody tell me!

Or is this one of those rhetorical questions that I have such a hard time comprehending?
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07.09.2008 - 04:53
Doc G.
Full Grown Hoser
Written by PrettyMao on 25.05.2007 at 19:07

Lullaby for a dying what?!?!? Please finish the sentence! I need to know what is dying? A pachyderm? Someone's goldfish? Eddie Munster?

The suspense is killing me.... or maybe that is the effect they are going for, if it is, it sure is working!

Written by Guest on 07.09.2008 at 03:35

"Kristiansen And Kvarforth Swim In The Sea Of Equilibrium While Waiting"...

Waiting for what? their mother to pick them up from school? the mail to arrive? What are they waiting for? Somebody tell me!

Or is this one of those rhetorical questions that I have such a hard time comprehending?

Fantastic.
----
"I got a lot of really good ideas, problem is, most of them suck."
- George Carlin
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09.09.2008 - 18:02
Sunioj

Written by Spyroid on 09.09.2008 at 09:07

If somebody was wondering, or didn't know - Skitliv means "shit life", I find it to be quite a raw band name Good review!


Thanks man, but that was already revealed in the review
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09.09.2008 - 18:29
Spyroid
Rosetta Stoned
Written by Sunioj on 09.09.2008 at 18:02

Written by Spyroid on 09.09.2008 at 09:07

If somebody was wondering, or didn't know - Skitliv means "shit life", I find it to be quite a raw band name Good review!


Thanks man, but that was already revealed in the review


Damn! I suck
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09.09.2008 - 18:32
Rating: 7
Lucas
Mr. Noise
Written by Spyroid on 09.09.2008 at 18:29

Damn! I suck


Shame you're not a girl.

Ok. Back to the review.
----
SLUDGE. DOOM. DEATH. Wait, what?

"The reason I'm running for president is because I can't be Bruce Springsteen." - Barack Obama
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09.09.2008 - 19:42
Spyroid
Rosetta Stoned
Written by Lucas on 09.09.2008 at 18:32


Shame you're not a girl.

Ok. Back to the review.


Dude that was a low one... haha
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09.09.2008 - 20:18
K✞ulu
Seeker of Truth
Great review. I probably will never listen to this demo since it's just not gonna be interesting to me, but Lucas, man, I have to express my admiration with this review, to be more precise with how it's written. The first two paragraphs are just a masterpiece. Hail good writing!
----
Savor what you feel and what you see
Things that may not seem important now
But may be tomorrow

R.I.P. Chuck Schuldiner

Satan was a Backstreet Boy
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11.09.2008 - 23:03
jupitreas
hi-fi / lo-life
This has got to be one of the most (unintentionally?) hilarious album titles ever.
Wow.
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11.09.2008 - 23:10
K✞ulu
Seeker of Truth
Written by jupitreas on 11.09.2008 at 23:03

This has got to be one of the most (unintentionally?) hilarious album titles ever.
Wow.

holy crap. that's right. i was so enchanted by the review itself, that I didn't pay attention to it. I wonder whether it makes any sense as far as the album lyrics...
----
Savor what you feel and what you see
Things that may not seem important now
But may be tomorrow

R.I.P. Chuck Schuldiner

Satan was a Backstreet Boy
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