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Who Killed Laura Palmer?

Who can forget the TV classic, Twin Peaks? Audrey Horne was the little spoilt minx played by Sherilyn Fenn.

“Audrey Horne” is a rock album, but not just a simple three chord rock album; it’s a very intricate and diverse rock album. This self titled record is the third for this Norwegian band; and with a blend of several of rock’s sub-genres it is totally timeless.

The album starts with the melancholic intro, “These Vultures” and then blasts into the riff laden and more upbeat “Charon” with its strong Stone Temple Pilots influence. Our journey with Audrey Horne sometimes is a modern interpretation of classic 80’s and 90’s rock. We also have some nice shredding in the intro to “Circus”, joined by a Hammond Organ; and yes this works really well. At times I get the feeling of more traditional modern rock band, influenced by names like Muse or Tool blended with more older bands like Stone Temple Pilots and Alice in Chains. My favourite track on the album is “Bridges and Anchors”, however it sounds just like ‘Knights of Cydonia’ by Muse, but sung by Michael Stipe (REM), along with catchy riffs and groovy verses.

Unfortunately, Audrey Horne decided to include some classic 80’s Rock Ballad tracks, like “Sail Away” amongst others. I honestly thought and seriously hoped that we left all that behind in the eighties, but no, there is always someone that wants to regenerate it. Personally I felt this spoiled the album. It was risky and it didn’t work.

Earlier albums by Audrey Horne had stronger metal influence; debut album “No Hay Banda” even won a Norwegian Grammy for Best Metal Act! Yes best metal act in Norway! Therefore this rock album is clearly a new direction for the band.

Audrey Horne consists of Toschie on vocals and with guitarist Ice Dale they are responsible for the song writing. Thomas Tofthagen on guitar and Kjetil Greve on drums complete the line-up.

This album could have easily got a solid 9 or even 10 out of 13 from me, but unfortunately I couldn’t forgive them for awakening the evil rock ballad monster. All said and done, when they rock, they rock your socks off.