One-Way Ticket to Candyland

In this era where artists adopt a new moniker whenever they switch from one sub-sub-niche to another, you gotta love (or at least pay respect to) a band that dares to change. One Way Ticket to Candyland is definitely a Moha! record — if only for Morten J. Olsen's energetic drumming and Anders Hana's blankets of noise — but it is also a different beast altogether. While the duo came out as a free improvising, high-octane juggernaut on their previous two records, this third outing seems to consist mostly of compositions. Either that or Hana and Olsen have suddenly grown super-tight in their spontaneous playing. Tracks like "It Burns Twice" and "Karibcore" are exactingly metrical, somewhere between Pak's math rock and Upsilon Acrux's personal brand of avant-prog. Elsewhere, in tracks like "Aids of Space" and "Oh My God It's Rave," the levels of intricacy, speed, noise, and mischief can only be equated to the Flying Luttenbachers (and Olsen makes a convincing impression of Weasel Walter!). In fact, the whole album falls much closer to (actually: right into) so-called "brutal prog" than anything you might expect from the Norwegian experimental scene (Scandinavian metal included). One Way Ticket to Candyland has its occasional moments of softer, textural improvisations ("Sopp På Kugen," "# Outro"), but these are only interludes in an electroshocking ride of an album. ~ François Couture, Rovi