Klammer – The Day Before Yesterday

So were things better The Day Before Yesterday or is there just a feeling that the day after tomorrow could bring a catastrophic worldwide disaster? Fingers crossed we’re not plunged into a world where all our yesterdays were better than any possible future. Thankfully dwelling on the past is not part of Klammer’s agenda with each of their previous albums moving their dark, edgy sound into new territories. 2018’s ‘You Have Been Processed’ was a favourite for this reviewer and it’s safe to say that ‘The Day Before Yesterday’, now available via Heavy Metal Records, is already claiming it’s place as a potential top five album of the year.

Maintaining their unmistakable blend of punk, post punk, gothic rock that merges edgy guitar hooks, dark bass lines and catchy drum beats all underpinning ominously dark, brooding vocals ‘The Day Before Yesterday’ is, to these ears, their strongest album yet. Perhaps it’s spending two years under the cloud of a pandemic or the possible upcoming complete change in the new world order that are weaving their gloomy thoughts into the sounds. Whatever it is ‘The Day Before Yesterday’ slowly wraps you in it’s caustic cloak forcing you to sit and contemplate many of the things going wrong in this messed up world.

Covering a vast array of distinctly topical but by no means uplifting topics ‘The Day Before Yesterday’ deals with anything and everything from the potential shitstorm of lying in the hope that it’ll make things better – ‘I Really Really Want To Believe’, the need to get really angry with those that claim they are leading us to a better future without waking up to the actual facts – Progress (or The Lack Of) and more. This is what Klammer do. Falsely cheerful, throwaway pop they most certainly are not. Klammer match perfectly the tones and mood of their music to whichever daunting aspect of everyday life they’re dealing with. Ominous drum beat and haunting guitars introduce ‘Broken Dreams In A Crashing Car’ and it’s tales of anxiety, frustration, and fear before everything erupts into slashing guitars, pounding drums and it’s yell of “failing breaks no stopping place”.

But Klammer are not all noise and pulsating beats yet even when things slow down significantly the background malice never leaves – “We are made of steel, ……… we will twist and rust.” Then later – “Man made, hand made. Who can we trust?”  as ‘While You Sleep’ likens us all to objects that at first seem full of strength and beauty yet morph into something destroyed with ease given certain conditions. With the driving, repetitive power that is ‘The Blind Leading The Blind’ anger, despair, helplessness are palpable with people believing and following everything that todays media feeds them. From slow, propulsive, haunting, repetitive power  ‘The Blind Leading The Blind’ to raucous, lighting fast , jangling guitars ‘The Insider’, dark, heavy post punk with almost uplifting funky interludes ‘New Direction’, the blatant fury of ‘Oblivion’ Klammer have produced an album that carries you along on a journey packed with atmosphere, an album that contains not a single weak point, that one moment will have your feet tapping to a furious rhythm before it then plunges you into the deep recesses of your innermost thoughts.

Listen to ‘I Wish I Could Bring You Back’ and it’s perfect 50 second guitar solo and tell me you’re not transported to thoughts you may or may not wish you’d been taken to. Lyrically it’s possibly their darkest album yet but listen carefully and you will still find plenty here to lift you. I’ll leave you to decide where those parts are because some will find solace where others see only darkness.