TROLL SCIENTISTS - Sir Eel
Finnish electro label is striking back with the second album by their countrymen Troll Scientists, whose debut was released two years earlier on Space Boogie Productions. The duo consisting of sound wizards Jani Inkeroinen and Staffan Ström is delivering one hour of hypnotizing psy trance on Sir Eel, filling the first half of the album with seven medium long explorations of what their genre can do. The opener Disco Doctor offers right away nicely psychedelic electronica with a thumping beat. The shorter Fisherman’s Symphony annoys me with its cheesy string sounds, turning this track into a Rondo Veneziano for the space age. Things improve with Follow The Sardine, continuing the maritime theme of the record with a refreshing grating sound. Birth Of Wainamoinen is the only piece featuring a guest musician. Tim Lundblad’s drums add a certain nervousness to an otherwise quite psychedelic tour de force. The next three selections show the duo from a different side. While Congo Party has a fitting jungle atmosphere, Un question du pop and Ajattara surprise with an ambient touch that are the calm before the storm before the CD heads into its second half filled with three longer compositions. Zemel Dance comes with a danceable techno beat and cranks up the pace. Ziko 10, the longest selection on the album, was previously released as a digital single, and more or less offers more of the same. The Finns take advantage of the concluding Witch Protector to let it all out on one of their fiercest moments.
Sir Eel is certainly a nice demonstration of the versatility of psy trance, combining the psychedelic tendencies of bands like Ozric Tentacles with kinetic trance music. This is definitely not the right album to listen to in a flat with thin walls, because the bass heavy drums unfold their charm only at a higher volume. In the end, this is the music that works best when you’re out on a weekend night, to get you dancing into the early hours of the morning. At home, this gives you probably only a foretaste of the sonic mayhem this Finnish production team is capable of.