By Jim Rowland
Swedish multi-instrumentalist Henrik Palm has played with the likes of In Solitude, Pig Eyes, Gösta Berlings Saga and Södra Sverige in the past, and perhaps most notably was one of the early ‘nameless ghouls’ of Ghost. He releases his third album ‘Nerd Icon’ this week, and if it’s anything like his first two, we’re in for another weird and wonderful treat.
On Henrik Palm’s previous album, 2020’s excellent ‘Poverty Metal’, there was a cover of Twisted Sister’s ‘Destroyer’ which is quite possibly the finest cover version I’ve ever heard. Doing what a good cover should do, it took the song into a completely different place to the original, in fact quite far removed. I mention that because it illustrates the original thinking and different approach Henrik Palm takes with his music, nearly all of which, aside from that track, are not covers.
‘Nerd Icon’ is still a rock album, but very much not in the traditional sense, fusing metal, doom, post-punk, jazz and a few other influences together to produce something that is genuinely different, and quite enthralling.
The subject matter of most of the lyrics is dark, as is most of the music. ‘Instrumental Funeral’ and ‘Back To Abnormal’ are both instrumentals with the former, as the title suggests, being dark, disturbing and progressive and the latter being a more gentle, atmospheric, acoustic-flavoured affair. ‘Subway Morgue’ and ‘Lunch Hour (Of The Wolf)’ are both heavy, spacey, angular rock tunes with a hint of Voivod to them, with ‘Lunch Hour’ benefitting from some great avant-garde jazz sax work at its crescendo, whilst the spikey and angular ‘Swim To The Light’ come across like a more rocked up version of punk/post-punk legends Wire.
Elsewhere, ‘From The Grave’ is a doomy, grinding, dark ditty with twisted piano and sax, ‘Talismanic Love’ is an altogether more melodic and atmospheric piece, and the sparse ‘Many Days’ ends the album in epic-sounding fashion.
Covering a multitude of different flavours, styles and influences, ‘Nerd Icon’, as with the previous albums, is oozing imagination and inventiveness, taking a different approach to rock music in a dark place. The result is quite delightful.
- ‘Nerd Icon‘ is released on Friday (19 April).