09/03/2016 18:33
I recently discovered this band though Facebook and I’ve concluded Pander in several updates that we do every evening. By doing that we’ve been contacted by their label boss Tamme of Big Bad Wolf Records. He told us he would send us the cd to review. After a short talk who would do this review I decided to take it. Pander is a band that proven themselves in the recent years as one of the upcoming and leading stoner metal bands from the northern part of the Netherlands. In 2012 the band made a steamy debut with their self-released album called ‘Go’. ‘Go’ has got them first raving reviews. In 2014 the men of Pander decided it was time to work on the successor of their album ‘Go’. Around the same time the band has signed with Stichting Metalization who are going to release and distribute the new album. In 2015 the band was dealing with an incredible major setback when fellow band founder and guitarist Andre Bouma (RIP) passed away at the young are of 40 as a result of cancer. Pander managed to climb out of the deep and proves that with the brand new album ‘Fierce Self’.
The nine track album ‘Fierce Self’ is in front on me and the cd is pounding out of my speakers. The first track of the stoner metal record is called ‘At The Shore’. A great first track and introduction for the people who haven’t heard of Pander before. We move on to ‘Witchcraft’. The second song on ‘Fierce Self’ is a nice one. No slow pieces throughout this song I’ve noticed. A complied with a simple but effective solo, Pander shows they know what they’re doing.
Next up is the song ‘Korea’. A very different song compared to the previous two songs. A far more of a dissected song. What I mean with that is that this song has different ‘parts’ build into it. An extremely headbangable song with amazing vocals. And I haven’t mentioned the solo. It is a stoner-metal solo that kicks ass! However, the song ends pretty early with an extremely song outro to the song which flows easily to the next song called ‘Leave’. What I’ve been experiencing throughout this album that it isn’t an album you need to listen to to experience a technical album. It is one of those albums you just put in the cd player and just let it run for the whole length of the album. When its ended you will notice and say ‘Damn that was amazing!’. Now on to the title track of the album ‘Fierce Self’. A mesmerizing track with riffs and solo’s that are perfect fitting in the song. Next up is the song called ‘Anxiety’. Not my favourite track of ‘Fierce Self’. I don’t like the high vocals on this song because his lows are more fitting to the song-structure. However, the next song ‘Golden Sun’ is one of the many nice songs on ‘Fierce Self’. A pure stoner metal song and that’s how I like to hear this genre. With the best solo of the whole album ‘Golden Sun’ lets you experience everything Pander has got in his arsenal. 8th track of this album listens to the name ‘The Light’. The song has a great solo starting the whole song. With much feeling and melody. And the last song on ‘Fierce Self’ is called ‘Preaching’. I always want to go out with a bang and I hope that this song will provide that. Armed with a catchy intro riff this song is blasting out of my speakers. As I said I need a good ending song to this mesmerizing stoner metal album and Pander provides that for me. They fade out the album but with such power you’ll need to hear the whole album again.
Written by Bonno Zwaan
