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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Mixed Bag from BiL, October 24, 2001
Boiled in lead has always experimented with several different things in one album, but other albums, such as Orb, seem to work together anyhow; the diverse elements create an interesting synergy that keeps you going even when the tunes change mood and style.Antler Dance feels more like a collection of random tunes thrown together. Some are excellent, some are good - but the album as a whole does not hang together. That said, I'd better repeat, there is some EXCELLENT stuff in this album. My two favourite tracks, worth the price of the whole album, are the back-to-back instrumentals, "Sugarfoot Congress", and "Drowning". The first is a rocked up trad. set, that only gets wilder and harder - and better - as it goes. The second is a fiddle-dulcimer tune that I can only say is one of the most beautiful pieces BiL has ever done. Those two instrumentals also work in sequence, unlike many other moments on the album. Also notable are the trance-like "Neda Voda" (Though it's badly placed enough that the placement affects the tune to its detriment), a crazed cover of Bomey M's "Rasputin", and the poetic hard rock "Walk through the Door". Disappointments are "Robin's Complaint", which is lyrically sarcastic but sadly, musically whining, "Hook 'em Cow", which wears out after the first few listenings (Though it works fairly well live), and the overlong "Nasrudin" - which is made worse by following "Neda Voda", as the two combined create a stretch of around fifteen minutes of directionless instumental. Since "Robin's Complaint", "Bring it Round", and "Hook 'em Cow" make for an excessively long stretch of short sarcastic pieces, I wonder that they did not shake up the order of the songs a bit more; it would have improved things. Of course, simply replacing the (few) pieces that are not up to their usual standards would have improved the whole album more.
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