CCMusic.com

With their "wall of fuzz" - the Swedish duo Nova Blast have a strange way of finding their way into the heart of different audiences. Whether it has been by opening for acclaimed lo-fi electro acts or breaking the sound barrier at punk, doom and indie festivals, Nova Blast have made a mark. On Eccolalia - their wonderfully loud, melodic, dynamic and long-awaited debut LP - they continue to do so. The album treats the time when lyricist and frontman Anti Zurowski was in neuropsychological evaluation - it's a diary about Swedish mental health care, forced medication, stigma and insomnia. The lyrics (in both Swedish and English) are purposely dreamy, metaphorical, repetitive and shaped as dialogues to capture the broad (and chaotic) range of his inner conversations. The same can be said about the music with sudden shifts in dynamics and sensory stimulating walls of reverb and distortion, a focus on bass/mid glide chords and noise crescendos.