A faint but unmistakable spark of madness lurking behind the eyes was always one of the reasons that Peter Dolving made such a compelling frontman, whether with The Haunted or any of his various other projects. Having left his former band amid some acrimony, it seems fitting that his first major release as a free man should be as unremittingly peculiar and obtuse as the Thieves And Liars album.
From the mesmerising Krautrock pulse of the opening Meinhof onwards, this is as far removed from Swedish thrash as you might possibly imagine, but assuming that Peter’s fans are open to new experiences (and if anyone’s fans are, then it should be his) there are a vast amount of weird, wild and exhilarating ideas being expanded upon here.
Veering from the twitching, lo-fi art rock of One Sweet Moment and Ordinary Folk to the fuzzy psych rock shuffle of Cocksucker Blues and No Solicitors’ cracked melodrama, this is a deeply eccentric but endlessly fascinating mystery tour through the mutant maze of its creator’s racing brain. It sounds like his mind never switches off.
You may fear for his sanity, of course, but there is no denying that Peter Dolving is a unique and fearless force of nature.
