First off, ever since interviewing the (International) Noise Conspiracy earlier this year, I've become pretty wary of Swedes - or anyone from a country whose population overwhelming has blond hair and in Detroit could pass for a gaggle of models. Apart from that, pseudo revolutionary commie speak seems pretty pervasive over there. And in an atmosphere of nonsensical, ill conceived governmental works the mush that passes for brains - in t(i)NC at least - seems be result in grand notions of musical purpose. And unfortunately, not just played out garage rock is affected by this - it's droney pretndo experimental rock as well.

The American based Important Records traffics in the general territory of purposefully obtuse rock musics. And to include the Skull Defekts isn't all too shocking. It makes sense actually. Unfortunately, apart from the Vanishing Voice disc from a few years back, I can't say that I've enjoyed any of the label's releases all too much.

The issue I take with most experimental rock stuffs is that to wade through the mire is rarely worth the momentary musical transcendence that the listener is afforded after that. Surely, portions of Coltrane's sputtering is void of use - but there are those moments when everything becomes crystal clear. Those moments seem all to sparse on The Temple, the follow up to the Skull Defekts' 2007 Blood Spirits & Drums Are Singing. Again, the disc coming out on Important Records brings along some specific expectations and some of them are met.

"Hydrophobic Baptism" - it's ridiculous title aside - falls somewhere into metallic stomper territory with its rhythmic derivation lacking any sort of imaginative growth, the song ends as it began: a caveman drumming, and what's supposed to be a serious growl spewing some worthless drivel. Fans of the band might enjoy the four chord grandeur - there actually is that one ringing note that has pleasure imbued in it - but apart from that, most of the album can be summed up here.

I did say most, though.

The weirdo conception of "Unholy Drums for Psychedelic Africa" - again ignoring the inane title - is simple a percussion workout. And while nothing about it warrants the track continuing for five plus minutes, it is a pleasant break on an otherwise boring disc

The only momentary respite, apart from that drumming, comes in the form of the elongated "Six Sixes." And even with the doubled damned devil being summoned by the Defekts, listeners should rejoice in the only real instance of psych melding into some other worldy drone to end in a solid rock track. There is momentary lapse into vocalization, but it's relatively brief. The underpinning rhythm here - much the same as on "Unholy Drums for Psychedelic Africa" - works to incorporate some spazzy guitar and a pretty immense drone over much of the track. Towards the end, the preceedings get a bit lame with a more metallic influence entering the fold, but nothing's perfect.

While the deep, deep, deep roster at Important might have a few gems interspersed with the musical dregs, this is not one of them unfortunately. And there's no amount of shamanistic posturing to change that fact.