BLACK COMEDY...a band that most of you don't even know that exists! Instigator is their first album, so it's logical not knowing them. But you probably recognize one or two names in the lineup...
...Tjodalv (SUSPERIA, ex-DIMMU BORGIR, OLD MAN'S CHILD) and Memnock (SUSPERIA, ex-OLD MA'S CHILD) are the two most known band members. Marius and Christian Svendsen (drums) gave birth to the band back in 1996. The band won the national Rock championship in Oslo in '98 and from then on, with some lineup changes, BLACK COMEDY have gone through many development stages and musical phases, as they say in their bio. So, now it was time for the Oslo-based band to release its debut album, Instigator.
As for the music itself, things are a little bit weird. Those who wait to listen to something between DIMMU BORGIR and OLD MAN'S CHILD can stop reading now. In this album you will listen to many different genres of music. Goth, trance, Death Metal, experimental Metal, NWOSHM (especially in the choruses), as much as mainstream Metal and in some parts EBM, everything is here. The band and their record company characterize their music as 'cyber' Metal. Influenced by bands like FEAR FACTORY, IN FLAMES and (in some parts) DEATHSTARS and trying to mix all those genres, they somewhere lose the target. Listening to the album, I thought that sometimes they just try to combine them instead of writing a song. They have some really good compositions like Prime Specimen, Favorite Hateobject and Inhale The Sulphur but at the end the album lacks continuity.

As for the lyrics, they deal with humanity in a sarcastic and ironic way. Themes like the illness of our society and problems we have as individuals; but the lyrics are not direct, giving the listener the opportunity to give his/her own perspective.

Instigator is a powerful, direct album, with some bright ideas but, on the other hand, BLACK COMEDY give the idea that there are times they are losing control. I believe that in the future, if they manage to handle their influences, BLACK COMEDY is going to release a hell of an album, since they have the experience capability to do it! But until then...