PreHistoric Animals – Finding Love in Strange Places

World anno 2024 is a complex place with lots of era-defining events unfolding right before our eyes. As such, 21st century is big inspiration for artists. Swedish PreHistoric Animals have, unlike the majority, decided to put a positive spin on it.

Finding Love in Strange Places is a collection of songs, all of whom describe the power of love and the idea that it often occurs in the unlikely places. As such it’s a simple theme, but in the increasingly divided world it communicated an important message, because the core idea of speaks into being more tolerant towards “the other side”.

It’s a lovely thought and a welcoming one, in time where pandemic, wars, climate debate etc. are often addressed in a negative way, nonetheless, in Metal and Rock genre.

And speaking of genres, PreHistoric Animals have grasped an elegant approach to mixing progressive metal, catchy rock with a fair dose of pop sensibilities. The band sounds modern, while at the same time nor being shy to pay tribute to classic progressive era of 70’s. At times the band digs into early Dream Theater, other times, before they unfold in a Muse manner. And through it all they manage to tastefully get as poppy as they want. In those aspects they often resemble they countrymen Korea.

Throughout, however, they maintain a good overall feel, and nothing really sticks out. There is an infectious, uplifting quality to Finding Love in Strange Places, and it comes from all its levels. It can be a catchy melody, an inspiring lyric, elegant riff or just about anything else

The band never lets the organic sound of futuristic sound slip through their fingers, which is especially important for concept albums.  Sonic qualities underline the dystopic quality of the concept as well.

Much like most of their previous work, the sci-fi themes are deeply anchored and current themes and as such not only relevant, but perhaps also forward-looking.

Overall performance is outstanding without it being ostentatious. Stefan Altzar vocal performance balances out many different qualities and throughout the album comes across as uplifting, relatable and captivating.

PreHistoric Animals might not be deeply unique, but what they have created in their careers so far is very much their own, and the quality of songwriting and performance is undeniable. Finding Love in Strange Places is not quite up there with The Magical Mystery Machine (chapter 1 + 2), but it’s undeniably another very strong release by the band, who has so much to offer.

www.prehistoricanimalsmusic.com