Karaboudjan - Sbrodj

Karaboudjan is an avant-garde metal one-man band from Örebro, Sweden. The only band member is Dan Swanö. Karaboudjan is a band entirely devoted to the Adventures of Tintin, and the atmosphere created by the music reminds of the mysterious aspects of these adventures, especially those of Flight 714. "Karaboudjan" is the name of the ship in which Tintin first meets his friend Captain Haddock.

Swanö's projects are always interesting and often a bit eccentric, but "Sbrodj" is wacky even by those standards. Of all the bands he has worked with before, PAN-THY-MONIUM might be the closest comparison here, with a rather unstructured writing style featuring twisted riffs that are alternately led by a very fuzzy guitar and proggy keyboards, along with the occasional squealing sax (heightening the comparison to PTM) and assorted other sounds (kettle drums even!). There are no vocals here (apart from a few scattered samples), the three songs sounding more like ideas that needed to be exorcized rather than proper compositions. It's all over in 20 minutes, leaving the listener rather confused, but it's actually a pretty cool listen. Swanö, of course, always keeps himself busy with various projects, but this one appears to be a one-off.Highly recommended if you like your prog metal experimental and avant garde,ala Mr.Bungle,Fantomas and Secret Chiefs 3.

Enjoy !