8 years have passed between the album "Forte" and the album "No More" which was released on July 30, 2015 !!
This is not a negligible number, it's a very long time, especially in light of the fact that the band is in its thirties. 30 years that we are part of them and we pray that we will have at least another 30 more.
It evokes pride, love, and admiration as a rock band formed in the 1990s manages to fill Caesarea and gives a performance as if time has stopped reigning. True, in everything related to this band the reference is always nostalgic but it is worth putting an end to it. It is relevant, kicking, aggressive, and produces the essence of all Israeli rock !! Enough already to cuddle up to the debut album "Separate Reality" !!
We’ll just start by venting frustrations because otherwise they will manifest themselves later in the review and we don’t want to sound grumpy, so let’s just say we are very disappointed, angry, frustrated, and at a loss that almost every performance in recent years lacks proper representation of songs from this album. After the album launch, the band performed and broadcasted the entire album live on the web from the start to the end but since then... there is no trace. It seems to be peeking again when the song "Sister" was performed at the last show in Caesarea but that's the end of the story. It's really hard to understand why this is so and we are convinced that after reviewing and listening to the album you will agree with us on that...
This is ladies and gentlemen, nothing more than an amazing and exemplary album (some say (we are) "immortal") !!
An album that combines strengths and aggressiveness with tenderness and simplicity, the indulgence in the past, the reference to the present, the little things we have on a daily basis, and the big things that change our lives. This is unequivocally one of the band's best albums if not the "album".
Yes... yes... Do not cuddle us again now on "Separate Reality" or mention the special "Forte", this is an album that does not fall from both and for us, it even rises !!
(Photo: Avihai Levy)
The album opens with the powerful voice of Orit Shahaf (who from the show in Caesarea got the nickname "Hippolita" Queen of the Amazons) with the song "Sister" that begins with her exhalation sounds, which already puts you in an atmosphere of anger, like a dog second before it bites. The song closes the story of Orit's father opens with the song "Father" on the album "Death Fear", so there was a rumor that the song was about her father but she rejected the idea every time. Now she closes the subject and tells the story through her encounter with her sister and with some nerves to be noted. The story is true and she actually came up to perform a few minutes after meeting her.
The second song "Until It Comes Down" is perfectly constructed and adapts itself exactly to our real story, as if Tom Petrover took part in our lives and decided to commemorate them at that point. He opens quietly and caresses you as if coming to comfort you about what is happening. But then all of a sudden in a total explosion, with no preparation or ascent for the change it throws you into the sky, gives you a ringing contradiction, and roars at you mercilessly. Everything crashes... how nothing of what he dreamed comes true... and reality seems very difficult and indigestible until everything ends somehow.
But then... what's going on? Again breaking and changing rhythm, Yahav starts pulling you with the quick clicks on the Ride and you do not understand where else to climb from here. So... Tom tells you what his reality looks like now that everything has collapsed for him.
How are holding on so far? Are you still with us? Very nice because now Orit is a little relaxing with the song "Someone", not one of the big moments on the album but a nice song that lets you relax until the next song. It has a beautiful breaking section with a fret that gives you a pleasant break until the distortion and aggression return.
The next song is a moment of self-observation. "No More Fighting" let you identify with the protagonist (which happens in another song we'll get to later) even though you don't really go through the same experiences... but Tom's voice... his text structure, his submission. It is impossible not to give up, it is impossible not to lose everything and just experience these moments with him. Something in the story that takes you slowly and eventually intensifies and intensifies makes you feel exactly the opposite of the name of the song. No matter what you are and who you are, after 6:24 minutes you are not only ready to fight, but you will also be ready to take everything down just to fight for your beliefs. Live your life. Omri Agmon's solo miraculously serves the text and takes you slowly, slowly up and up to the end.
The song “I Guess It’s For You” is a nice rocky musical moment that lightens your mood a bit and again lets you freshen up a bit before your next trip. Some aggression and sawing do good for releasing the "chakras".
"A Year Has Passed" is a life journey, you re-identify with the protagonist. Tom takes us on a journey between different periods in life passage that almost all of us went through, but his journey is different.
It is a journey in whose background there is always a feeling of missing out on someone or something he wanted so badly but did not get. This whole journey has led him to where he is today but in the end, he gives up on this thing and decides to forget. The fret of the guitar that accompanies this journey begins with the acoustic and in the second part moves to the tram with the entrance of the drums... it is simply a song with one of the most beautiful and melodic arrangements on this album. You are part of his journey and again as they always manage to do, you dedicate yourself and go with it throughout the song, to the end.
Hayehudim likes to have few of English songs on their albums and like everything they do ly sounds great, "Screaming You" is a powerful and heavy song. Orit starts calmly (as you noticed, many songs on this album start to calm. Some develop and intensify slowly and some faster) with Omri on the guitar when Yahav comes in again later with the Ride and they slowly increase the tempo until the thick distortion comes in and you find yourself moving from side to side in movements of as if a light breeze is shaking you. The piano and bass work are amazingly felt in the second part of the song that goes into the aisle and then again as if the wind has not stopped and you keep moving from side to side.
Every band's album has its catchy, rhythmic, short, and powerful song that is like the delicious piece of chocolate hidden inside the ice cream, when you put it in your mouth and give a bite you are in heaven !! We know them very well, "Stealing", "Ella", and "Falling" are usually an integral part of the band's setlist in performances that drive the audience crazy and elevate it even more to the sky. "I like to be alone" is just that !! It starts with explosions, continues with explosions, and ends with fireworks. Whether you like it or not, you should be alone when you listen to this song because very quickly your body will start making involuntary movements and you lose control of the whole body that just wants to go wild. , Roar loudly !!
After the fireworks and explosions, Orit comes to calm down with "A Pair of Pigeons". It is impossible to describe in words the voice of "Hippolyta". She caresses, shakes, penetrates, hovers and we can go on like this much longer because she is truly unique. When Omer hits the guitar in a kind of continuous melody that is repeated, Orit enters with a slight intensity. "Come my love, let me lead..." You are already mesmerized and from here there is no going back. Go... day and day after day after day... In the second part, we are already on a step and we are in rhythm with the drums, the guitars, the bass, and the keyboards, and then comes the moment of breaking. One of the beautiful tracks on the album, Yahav's beatings put you in a crazy spin, roaring and beating mercilessly until they explode into Hippolyta's dreadful roars, she roars "day after day..." and we have nothing more to say!
The song "Son" is a kind of different moment, a little strange but utterly understandable in light of the couple's experiences with new parenting in recent years. A lovable song that for some reason does not manage to excite so much (at least us) but within u,s we know it is full of meaning, energy,y and emotion. Is a beautiful combination of piano and guitars with quite a high volume and a twisting solo but something let's a little was missing from us.
The song that closes this wonderful album is "Imagining", a song with an exciting and amazing story.
A few years back, Orit received a song written by Sagit Raz, which she dedicated to her autistic son. Orit was pregnant at the time and loved the song very much. The song was composed and worked on but was not recorded. Working on this album, the band decided to put the song on the album but did not remember who the mother was that wrote the song, and through Yedioth Ahronoth they contacted the readers and managed to reach Sagit Raz. It must be noted that the arrangement of the song is very different from all the other songs on the album, there is more work of electronics here than guitars and drums but it is a touching and moving song.
Without a doubt this album is wonderful and amazing, it is no exaggeration to say again that this is one of the band's best albums. Much has to do with the fact that their lyrics have changed over the years and so have we (the fans who grew up with them) but their music does not change, they remain true to their sound and dynamics, and yet something there feels different, new, and refreshing. Maybe it's because it's been 9 years since the last album but we do not care.
We love it !!
So it's time to hear a lot more of it in the next shows ...
Listen to the album on: Spotify, Apple Music