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Rating: We start off terribly: Kubb is a Swedish game of Viking origin, halfway between bocce and bowling. And I hate both. It still seems childish to judge an album poorly just for a "wrong" choice of band name, so I pop it into the stereo and listen to it for an entire day. Don't you do it.
The opening track, Remain, is truly bad and predictable, so much so that I find myself with my right index finger on the STOP button. But being stupid and stubborn, I carry on. Following is I don't mind, a third-grade musical theme, and it's here that my relationship with Kubb starts to heavily deteriorate. I continue to listen in disbelief and come across Grow, THE final masterpiece of a low-grade medley: a cocktail skilfully mixed between Gospel, '50s Doo-Wop, John Lennon on his thirteenth joint, and Take That. Finally, at the eighth track, the ultimate consecration: Chemical is the straw that breaks the camel's back and the album collapses on itself. After droning on about love (and I do love love songs, imagine that) in every single piece, a nice text about drugs arranged in "Wanted to be the Pink Floyd" style makes you want heroin right away, instead of dissuading the masses from drug consumption. As if that weren't enough, 4'30" into the track (which lasts a good 6 minutes), a nearly interesting piano riff enters, instantly demolished by yet another gospel choir straight out of Chuck and Nora.
So after breaking my speakers (to use a delicate term) for the whole album, at the penultimate piece Kubb bring out their claws with Bitch, but they break their nails. The first verse suggests the arrival of a distortion hell, making the Gorgoroth sound like they're playing clean guitars in comparison... but instead, nothing. There's not even any energy when they scream "bitch" throughout the chorus. Depressing. For those who understand English, we have metaphors and lyrics bordering on the ridiculous; for those who don't understand English but appreciate good music, we have melodies and arrangements bordering on the embarrassing. Let's say it outright: there's not a single idea in the entire album. Maybe I'm picky, but getting to 2007 and facing rhymes like soul/control, bad/head, name/game, you/do, in 4/4 with a nice C chord progression underneath, has its own effect. Laxative, I mean. To be precise, the album is from 2006, but Kubb still wouldn't be pioneers even if we found ourselves in 1965. This well-recorded pearl of banality (I do like the sound a lot) is in short one of those products that makes you say "how did this happen?" even if it should be noted that the lead voice (Harry Collier) isn't bad at all, while the rest is a true musical tragedy, a fatal chord accident, a blunder of banal major scales.
But not all is for naught: while looking for the lyrics online, a banner opened for low-cost flights to London, and this is the truly great thing about this album: I'll remember it when I'm at Piccadilly Circus with Radiohead in my ears at a volume that would get me arrested.Next time I swear I will review an album, this is simply a mistake.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Remain (03:38)
Here's to the future
Forget about your past
Here's to the man whose life is just a gas
Here's to your sorrow
Oh I'll drink to that
Here's to the lost who have found their way back
Oh as it all begins to fade
I still remain, I still remain
Here's to the father who drowned in a glass
Here's to the teacher who said I wouldn't pass
Here's to the living
And here's to the damned
Here's to the man whose out there making plans
Oh as it all begins to fade
I still remain, I still remain
Remain...
Oh as it all begins to fade
I still remain...
02 I Don't Mind (03:51)
I don't mind
You don't even wanna know my name
That's just fine
You don't even wanna know my name
You (evolve) scenes of you and me in bed
Your legs wrapped around my head
You don't even wanna know my name
Chorus
I don't mind, if U don't mind
I'll do whatever you have in mind.
You and me (we're in this game)
and you don't even wanna know my name.
I don't mind
If your hungry for a bit of strange
That's allright
If your looking for a little change
Can I be (bold) and turn you around instead
I wanna see the back of your head
I don't even wanna know your name
Chorus
Bridge of song
Chorus (repeat)
I don't mind!
03 Somebody Else (02:56)
I don't want somebody else
And I don't need anybody else
You're gonna see that for yourself
And you're gonna feel it in your health
Cos I, don't want somebody else...
Everytime you leave me alone
Girl you know you put me out in the cold
But this time, I'm not gonna break down and cry...
I'd rather die
No more pride taking us down
And no more time workin' it out
I turned all the lights off in this house
And I told all your ghosts to get out
Cos I, don't want somebody else...
Everytime you leave me alone
Girl you know you put me out in the cold
But this time, I'm not gonna break down and cry...
I'd rather die
04 Wicked Soul (03:48)
I don't want to watch The Street on TV
I don't want to hear about your day
I've got no time to hear
About how much you care
Shut your mouth and come this way
I'm a weirdo in your bedroom
And I can see you in the dark'
Tonight's the night I shed my wicked soul
I take it out on you and watch you lose control
Tonight's the night I shed my
Tonight's the night I shed my
Tonight's the night I shed my wicked soul
My wicked soul
Let's disconnect all communication
I've told your mother not to call
So lay down on the bed
Cause now I've locked the door
And we don't live out there no more
I'm a weirdo in your bedroom
And I can't see you in the dark
Tonight's the night I shed my wicked soul
I take it out on you and watch you lose control
Tonight's the night I shed my
Tonight's the night I shed my
Tonight's the night I shed my wicked soul
My wicked soul
05 Grow (05:15)
Who said
Broken pieces don't mend
I say
I say to think again
You may
Take advice from all your friends
But I say
That I'm living in your head
Chorus
Just let it grow
Let it grow inside of you
Let it grow
Let it flow inside of you
Let it grow let it grow let it grow
She said that its easy for men
And I said that we all feel the rain
Then she said
Move a little closer then
Who says that broken pieces don't mend
Chorus
'Cause in the garden of reason
You can't change what you're given
But you can go where the river flows
Let it grow grow grow grow
Let it grow grow grow grow
Yeah yeah yeah let it grow
Yeah
Let it grow
Life gives you a hand
You're playing by the rules
You'll never come through it.
Life gives you a hand
You're playing by the rules
You'll never come through it.
('cause in the garden of reason
You can't change what you're given
But you can go where the river flows)
07 Alcatraz (03:20)
Thru the ceiling
They really mean it
She's in Alcatraz
He don't walk it
And she just talks it
And nothing's left unsaid
Bail out I said bail out
And don't look down
Bail out, its only the ground
Under my floor
He's a warlord
And she wants out
Cos when she talks it
He distorts it
And the highway's in her head
Bail out I said bail out
And don't look down
Bail out, its only the ground
And the highway's in her head
Bail out I said bail out
And don't look down
Bail out, its only the ground
08 Chemical (06:08)
All your lives are the best I've ever heard
and all my time spent with you getting wasted I know
and all our tears start to flow when we crash to earth
and all our money spent on drugs getting cooked and burned
nothing will ever be the same
nothing will take away your pain
Chorus
You're love's all good
You're love's all good
it's chemical
I dream of a time when I'm straight and you set me free
but I can't walk away got some kind of dependency
Chorus
Chorus
You're love keeps me breathing
You're love is my healer
You're love keeps me trying
You're love brings me humour
You're love always finds me
You're love gives me meaning
You're love is my master
You're love stops me kneeling
You're Love is my Father
You're love stops me dying
You're love is my brother
You're love has got me on my knees
You're love is my mother
You're love is like my sister
You're love floats around me
You're love is like no other
You're love keeps me breathing
You're love is my healer
You're love keeps me trying
You're love brings me humour
You're love always finds me
You're love gives me meaning
You're love is my master
You're love stops me kneeling
You're love is my father
You're love stops me dying
You're love is my brother
You're love has got me on my knees
09 Sun (03:12)
I think you ought to know
It cuts right to the bone
I went and lost my head
And anything I could get
I'd like to say hello
But I'm hiding from the phone
I cant take it all in
Still reeling from the blow
Chorus
I hope the sun will shine again for me and I will make it in the end
I hope the sun will shine again for me and I will make it in the end
I see you through glass
The price they have to pay
For one sweet taste of you
For me it's not the same
It's time to let you go
I watch you drain away
It's easier on my soul
I'm better off this way
Chorus
I know you'll take me back again to where I was before
But for me this is the end
The end
Chorus
Chorus
10 Without You (03:58)
We used to love each other
And now Im having to discover
That all is not what it seems
And Im bleeding
Its so hard to let you go
No, No, No.
Without You
Without You
No, No, No
I feel a cold wind blow now
But I don't really wanna go now
Just keep holding on
Cause I need You
And I've got to let you know
No, No, No
Without You
Without You
I can't
I can't
I cannot Live without you
I can't without you
and I can't, I cannot live without you
I can't
I can't
I cannot live without you
Without you
11 Burn Again (04:31)
She's got a temper like a hurricane
Like Gasoline to a flame
She set fire to my heart
And then she blew it apart
And now I'm stranded on a love chicane
A cold chill when I hear her name
Cause even though I knew I'd lose
I still went and lit the fuse
Chorus
And so I burn again
I'll wait my turn again
Too young to hold it in
And so I burn again
She's got a head full of novocaine
But underneath still feels the same
She doesn't like it in the dark
Her little demons pull her apart
So now I'm stranded in a love chicaine
A cold chill when I hear her name
Cause even though I knew I'd lose
I still went and lit the fuse
Chorus
And so,so
Chorus
And so. so
Chorus
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