THE PROVENANCE

THE PROVENANCE
HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE SPAT AT (2004)
320 KBPS

The Provenance is this unfairly ignored Swedish band which used to play well-made gothic metal with female plus extreme male vocals, like a good thousand other bands, but with a great deal of originality that distinguished them from the rest. Their second album Still At Arms Length had been critically acclaimed for its fair melodies and its overall excellence. How things can change in just two years... Most bands usually remove progressively all the extreme elements from their music, but not The Provenance. They've thoroughly changed the whole sound of their compositions. It can't be the same band! They got rid of the extreme vocals, of the fast-paced tempos and of the most blatantly metal features of their music, such as the heavy riffs or the acute production. And I have a much more mixed opinion on How Would You Like...
The music has gone from pure metal to a kind of experimental doom/goth, with the addition of samples and atmospheric passages. The result can remind of a rock version of Katatonia or Amorphis, but it lacks the brilliance of these two bands. I'd say that only half the songs really present interest, since the rest gets bogged down in overexperimentation. I have nothing against originality as long as it remains catchy and understandable. The problem is, some passages here are far too messy or laborious to grab my attention. Another problem comes from the average production that makes the album sound like electro stuff, which doesn't provide some songs with the powerful sound they'd otherwise deserve. Last thing I don't like: the male vocals. As I said above, no more screams, but clean vocals a la Katatonia. That would be all good, if only Tobias Martinsson was not a bit weak on some passages...
Let's not be completely negative, though. There are still very good features, like the vocals of Emma Hellström which sound much more pop than before, but keep a force that can make some green with envy. It's also one of the originalities that the sweetness of the vocals is out of step with the utter violence of the lyrics (you have to hear her sing with an angel-like voice "I will retaliate!! Stomp your bloody face into the ground", or "I put her down, bashed her with a brick"). The lyrics are one of the strongest points: extremely violent, bitter and cold, like a big "Fuck You!!" to all the people who tried to hurt them all over their career and their life. I don't know what happened to drummer Joel Lindell, but he sure was angry when he wrote it all... One last word about the music, just to say that the five or six good songs conceal a wealth of beauty, strangeness and sweetness, like the doomy opener (maybe the best song here) "WoH II Tsc" or "Kick You So Hard", this weird song that sounds like Björk.
Finally I don't really know what to think about this album. It is obviously not really metal anymore, some songs are certainly not worth your interest and I have the feeling that they wanted so much to differentiate themselves from what was expected that they eventually more or less failed. But on the other hand, the good songs may warrant the purchase of How Would You Like To Be Spat At. Anyway, if you're interested in something that crosses the boundaries of what you usually listen to, The Provenance might be a good treat.

1. Woh II TSC
2. Heroine
3. Catching Scarlet in the Sun
4. How Would you Like to Be a Spat at
5. Some Gossip on Stealing an Epouse
6. Going Down
7. Considering the Gawk , the Drool , the Bitch and the Fool
8. Kick You so Hard
9. About a Whore , About a Kill
10. Speeding to Get by