HEAD CONTROL SYSTEM

Murder Nature KSCOPE

Long-forgotten artefact from Ulver’s Kristoffer Rygg gets another day in the sun.

Despite Head Control System being a vehicle for two progressive metal luminaries, they slipped down the back of the sofa of history. Starting life as a project named SinDRomE by future Anathema drummer and keyboardist Daniel Cardoso, it blossomed when Ulver vocalist Kristoffer ‘Garm’ Rygg got involved. Belying the duo’s pedigree, their only album was released with little fanfare and no live support into the post-nu metal hinterland of the mid-2000s, where it lay as a largely undiscovered gem.

Now Murder Nature has been disinterred and put back on display with a disc’s worth of bonus material that sheds new light on the original release. It sounds of its time, with a touch of Tool, a dash of Queens Of The Stone Age and a polished alt-rock sheen that would have been radio-friendly if airplay had come within hailing distance.

There’s still a lot to admire, though, in both Rygg’s exemplary vocals – and the lack of them. The Norwegian singer’s diverse range and penchant for layering tracks of his own voice to create an amazing one-man choir has a natural tendency to become a focal point of the projects he’s involved in, and Head Control System were certainly no exception. This reissue includes instrumental versions of most of the tracks and, without Rygg’s attention-hogging performance, Cardoso’s contributions (i.e. everything else) really get the chance to shine. There was always a lot going on under the hood of this album but the varied dynamics, little flourishes and complete attention to detail impress more than ever in this format.

Elsewhere, there’s a reversed version of Kill Me, which was backwards on the original and now sounds even more sinister, with Rygg repeatedly crooning ‘Kill me’ over a laid-back piano vibe. There’s also a cover of Seal’s Kiss From A Rose, some instrumentals, several work-in-progress demos and, of course, the original album in all its glory. Murder Nature is certainly worthy of a second look, or a first for anyone it passed by originally.