Until a couple of weeks ago, I had never heard of Beehoover. Somebody told me, they were teh shitz so I went and checked them out. Then I checked out. After about an hour of listening to their recently released, fourth full length album called “The Devil and his Footmen”, I came back to earth. I have seen the power cosmic and I loved it. Beehoover are the unholy spawn of a copulation between Tool, Soilent Green, Rage Against the Machine and NoMeansNo. If this sounds slightly insane… well, it is. In a good way. And that’s just the beginning: As I was swaying, bopping and grooving along to the triumvirate of complex grooves that introduces the album, I started to realize something. There is no guitar. Yeah, chalk it up to the mood I was in but I seriously didn’t realize that I was listening to a duo. Claus-Peter Hamish drums up a storm on his basic kit. The fills he summons to plug any lull in the wall of sound these two guys produce (not that there are many, shit be toight) are worthy of the greats. And then there’s Ingmar Peterson with his bionic spider paws on base and main vocals. This dude is the real deal. The sounds he teases out of his phat strings are off the charts. I mean, complex rhythms, meandering loops, precious melodies and a fierce groove. All done by one man and one instrument. He’s got a battle-fleet of pedals, true, but still. There’s no doubling going on. If you don’t believe me, check out some of the live videos out there. I was flabberghasted and after 21 years of living the metal, that’s not an easy thing to do.
So, the technical proficiency is well established, but what about the songs? Well, they manage to be frail and heavy at the same time. Monolith starts off with a complex rhythm before it takes a breather for some well placed groove, just to segway into Peterson’s hypnotic vocals. His sometimes counter-intuitive vocal lines supplement the goings on perfectly. There’s so much going on in just these few minutes of music, I’d need several pages to unfurl it all. So let’s move on to Egoknights and Firehawks: This one crashes out of the gate with a vengeance before settling to an offbeat rhythm that’s bound go give any headbanger whiplash. This song lives by it’s awesome, powerful chorus. Rooftop takes the viciousness down a notch in favour of some really dark mood. Yet still it manages to pack some sizzling grooves somewhere in between smoothly stroking base lines and abjuratory chants.
Boy vs. Tree lives and dies by Hamisch’s rock solid tribal beats. It’s a slow burner, but an interesting one. It take’s its time to unfold in your brain. Perfect for some chilling. Mourning Sun carries a mischievous grin into battle. Admittedly, it seems to be one of the weaker songs on the album, certainly the one I’ve listened to the least. But maybe it needs a little more time to get its hooks into me. Same goes for Dear Mammoth. Not my favorite on the record.
On to the rather brutal (for this band) and excellently titled My Mixtapes Suck Big Time: Again with these grooves in between complex melodies and Petersen’s voice to guide you alongside the madness. There’s a sort of perfect precision going on that only a duo as well suited for each other as these guys can provide. Honeyhole is the largest beast of this record. It basically sums up everything you’ve heard before in new and exciting ways before throwing you back out into reality, naked and shivering. A perfect end to one hell of an interesting record. “The Devil and his Footmen” is certainly not for everyone. The heady mix of meandering melodies and grooves takes some work to get into, but once it clicks for you, it will never leave. Some might miss the additional heft that one or two guitars would provide but as it stands, two insanely talented dudes is all this band needs. Check it out.
Words: Stefan
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