Stockholm, Sweden is the home of The Lost Poets, an enigmatic duo made up of David Rosengren (vocals, guitars, piano, mandolin) and Petter Strömberg (drums, bass, piano). They mine a noir vein of alt-rock/grunge/swamp blues that seems to be profoundly influenced by 1990s alternative bands Alice In Chains, Stone Temple Pilots, and Soundgarden. It’s a dark and powerful sound and The Lost Poets fits right in with those heavy-hitters.
Rosengren and Strömberg just released their latest full-length, Insubordia Pt II, at the end of February and its 10 songs churn mightily with forceful dynamics and creep along with foreboding menace. The album follows up their previous release, 2014’s EP Insubordia, and it continues sonically and thematically from that record. While originally from Sweden, the duo has taken up residence in L.A. and has already played the Viper Room in support of Volto (Danny Carey of Tool’s band) and will be included in Dolph Lundgren’s upcoming movie Without You I’m Nothing.
The title track and opener reintroduces the sinister rock sonics from the previous EP, starting off with a driving rhythm of gritty guitar immolation and Strömberg’s fast-smacked drum beat accented with crisp cymbal hits. Rosengren comes in like a baleful specter, exclaiming with deep moans “Careful what you think of / Watch yourself…” Ominously compelling lead single “Danny Electro” gets lost in a swamp of mandolin plucks and dirge-like noise as Rosengren draws out his words as a warning, intoning with portent “Your source of fire is about to die.” The chorus sections lurch forward, blazing with a nightmare feel as Rosengren shouts Layne Staley-like amid the plunging instrumentation.
Rosengren’s voice emanates from a distance at the beginning of “Mouth” while an undercurrent of fuzzed-up distortion and picked guitar runs in parallel. Strömberg’s hollowed-out drum beat comes in on the second verse as Rosengren continues to moodily string out his words. The chorus arrives with a sudden blast of bashed drums and cymbals with Rosengren frustratedly exclaiming “Who’s inside of me?” The intriguing, Cranes-like, but much-too-brief “Beyond Redemption” features starkly pressing, doom-laden piano notes and Rosengren’s wordless cries.
A brooding Rosengren drapes his bleak vocals over the weightily forbidding “In A Wasteland”. Growling guitar lines burn and Strömberg’s beats out a kinetic drums and cymbals tattoo behind him as Rosengren mourns dolefully “…the shadows are haunting me.” “1000 MPH” continues the album’s electric guitar-based conflagration, but its slow to medium tempo belies the song’s title. Acoustic guitar lines wend their way through the verses, while the chorus picks up speed with emphatically bashed drums and cymbals and a defiant Rosengren declaring “We will remain.” Rosengren and Strömberg definitely leave a strong impression with Insubordia Pt II, crafting a darkly portentous and impressively powerful album.