Absoluuttinen Nollapiste - Pisara Ja Lammas 1 (2012)

Cerramos una semana a puro rock finlandés y lo hacemos con una ópera rock (todo un "Tommy" de origen finlandés) de dos discos de la que es considerada una de las bandas m{as elegantes y legendarios de dicho país. Paisajea sonoroa muy cuidadosamente construido, algunos matices orquestales, influencias folk escandinavas, música bastante accesible e impredeciblemente al mismo tiempo, en un disco de una banda que ya enamoró a algunos cabezones. Gran disco, de una banda tremenda.

Artista: Absoluuttinen Nollapiste

Álbum: Pisara Ja Lammas 1
Año: 2012
Género: Pop Rock Psicodélico / Prog Related
Duración: 41:26
Nacionalidad: Finlandia

Lista de Temas:
1. Alkusoitto
2. Planeetta Hyvä
3. Juhlija
4. Nainen lentää
5. Kohtaaminen
6. Pisara
7. Paimenen uni
8. Lampolan aamu
9. Lammas näkee naisen
10. Lampaan etsintä
11. Lammas saa vainun

Alineación:
- Aki Lääkkölä / guitars, synthesizers
- Aake Otsala / bass, synthesizers, sound design
- Tomi Krutsin / drums, percussion
- Tommi Liimatta / vocals (narrator)
Guests:
Erkki Seppänen / vocals (Lammas)
Paula Vesala / vocals (Nainen)
Olavi Uusivirta / vocals (Paimen)
Lotta Savolainen, Emilia Norppa, Teemu Eskelinen, Tommi Liimatta / choir vocals

Otro disquito por demás interesante de "Cero Absoluto" (la traducción al castellano del nombre de la banda) que va a entusiasmar a más de uno. Un disco donde se salvan con creces lo peor que tiene la banda que es la voz de su líder y letrista, ya que para este disco fueron especialmente invitados cantantes que imprimen sus contribuciones mejorando el nivel general, con una lírica que aparentemente está centrada en una épica historia de ciencia ficción (perdón pero la traducción del finlandés resultó ser muy dura) donde se divide en dos discos la historia del concepto: un disco para el bien y el otro para el mal, sirve para esta banda sonora épica.
He aquí la primera parte de esta aventura sumamente disfrutable, que los que ya escucharon a la banda y saben de su calidad seguro no tardarán en disfrutarla. Un ópera rock no podía faltar en nuestra saga de música finlandesa, y en vez de un disco, tenemos dos. Que lo disfruten!

This long-living Finnish band is for me among the most difficult ones to write about to an international prog community. Why? 1) They haven't gained much attention abroad, as far as I know, and understandably so for having Finnish lyrics in a central role. 2) They have a stable cult status here and they have been described as Finland's most even-quality band; each new album gets favourable reviews by critics who can mostly just circulate the same old phrases as the style stays pretty much the same album after album. And 3), I'm a relatively new listener of Abso. But this time there's at least something new to say.
This album and Pisara ja Lammas 2 (2014) form some sort of a rock opera with an obscure SciFi content quite hard to get into. The title means A Drop and a Sheep, and the characters are the Sheep (performed by Erkki Seppänen), the Woman (Paula Vesala of popular mainstream rock group PMMP), the Shepherd (Olavi Uusivirta, a popular solo pop artist), and a choir in the tradition of Greek tragedy. The Abso's main writer and vocalist Tommi Liimatta is the narrator, whose portion is at least 75 % of the whole. Everybody knows his limited, stiff vocal expression, a complete opposite to Roger Daltrey's fantastic multi-role contribution in THE WHO's legendary Tommy. This narrator-centred structure sadly decreases the operatic nature of the work; the guest vocals naturally bring some extra - especially the choir - but in the end not very radically.
But that, and the difficulty to understand the story, are not preventing this music to be Abso at their most inspired and exciting. The synths and guitars are used effectively in the very carefully constructed soundscape. Also from this point of view Pisara ja Lammas 1-2 is Abso at their most progressive. There are even some (mock-) orchestral nuances, and everything works very well. The music is both rather accessible and unpredictably interesting. The second album - which I may review sometime later - is stronger musically, but also this one is pretty rewarding - for all the old listeners and a bunch of new ones too, hopefully.

Matti