When Belltown split I have to be honest and say that I was more than a little surprised. The Swedish post-hardcore crew had shown plenty of promise on their debut EP and good things were expected. Then the bombshell that they had parted was dropped and all looked bleak. Until the members joined up with Eyeflower’s Jonas Olander to form At-The-Moment, a band who have picked up exactly where Belltown left off and improved on them.
The ATM self-titled debut EP is better than the Belltown record. That’s not to say that Belltown sucked in any way, but whilst that album had plenty of good moments at certain points it lacked a little balls, or was a little too predictable. This time ATM have taken stock and made the harder bits harder for example. They’ve even gone a little more like Queens Of The Stone Age, which if you like that kind of stuff is no bad thing.
The record kicks off with the fantstic ‘My Fate, My Burden’, a track that immediately hooks you in with its fantastic opening riff, which is quickly followed up with a very melodic chorus. The guitars have a nice ‘crunchy’ feel to them, and Daniel Palm’s vocals are perfectly in synch wi with the rest of the band. A special note also to Damir Bandic’s excellent drumming which is notebale throughout. Second track ‘Safe House’ is a little slower musically, but the vocals are speeded up. It’s a rather strange combination that does seem to work, especially by the chorus which is again extremely melodic. At-The-Moment seem to be able to combine some bone-crunching riffs without losing any of the melody that Belltown were famed for.
‘Fear Of A New Generator’ is perhaps the most disappointing song, as it’s rather generic and obvious and certainly doesn’t utilise the many talents that lie within this band. It goes back to some of the problems that Belltown faced, with the guitars and bass certainly not heavy enough to really bring out the emotion. Still, I’m sure this is rectified live. ‘Overlook’ slows the pace right down, but this time the track suceeds where the previous one failed. The dynamics of the song are perfect – and the guitar fills are also imaginative and well thought out. Daniel’s vocals also appear to quiver at some points leaving you convinced that he totally means what he says.
‘Resistance Radio (Intercepted Transmission) is a little disappointing as again it goes down the slower route for the majority of the song. But when the band do finally rock out – as hard as they do on the entire record – they sound brilliant. There’s anger and more than a little fire in their collective bellies and this comes across really well. The finale of ‘Selective Memory’ ends things on a reasonably high note, even if the riff is a little too much like Korn for my liking. Still, it’s loud, detuned and bound to get you all worked up if you are in the mood for it.
At-The-Moment are well worthy of 20 minutes of your time, especially if you are looking for something that is as far removed from the pop-punk norm as you can find. Not the most original band around but they are certainly good at what they do and a full length album would be well worth checking out.
Paul.