KONTINUUM

No Need To Reason

SEASON OF MIST Goth-tinged Icelandic rockers refine their sensibilities

Over the course of eight years and three albums, Iceland’s Kontinuum have found themselves practising a sort of dark rock minimalism, streamlining their music and sloughing off the elements they deem surplus to requirements.

No Need To Reason is the band’s quietest and most easily digestible opus yet – a careful, finely wrought effort that’s awash with wan melodies, introspective lyrics and a sense of inevitable doom dripping from every synth line. As a result you’re reminded of Katatonia going pop, a more buttoned-up Type O Negative and the Peaceville Three discovering the charms of crushed velvet, yellowing lace and antique candelabras. Despite the relative hush, the album is not without an earnest sense of drama – indeed, rather than giddily rocking the hell out to this one, you might find yourself swooning onto the nearest chaise longue instead. FOR FANS OF: KATATONIA, INTERPOL, ROPE SECT

ALEX DELLER