Franklin Zoo – Dandelion Child
Release Date: 1st October 2021
Label: Mighty Music
Stream
Genre: Danish Progressive Metal
FFO: Black Sabbath, Opeth.
Review By: Séamus Patrick Burke
It’s always intimidating when you see a full length LP with a short track list. You know that this album is going to be an investment of your time and if it’s going to be worth it. Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn’t.
Franklin Zoo is twelve years and three albums into their career, and they certainly have lofty ambitions for their third disc, Dandelion Child. Press releases go on about aiming to “transcend the ordinary ‘next album’”, whatever that means. Kierkegaard was referenced at one point with complete sincerity. It gets hard to understand. Maybe that was the point.
FZ quite firmly throws around the word “progressive” when describing their particular brand of metal, and the proof is in the pudding here; a scant six songs, almost all of them ranging from 7 to 11 minutes in length. The Danish quintet is intent on making a statement here. But do they have anything to say?
Now, make no mistake, long songs are not unwelcome here. Rush’s Hemispheres only has four songs and is considered a prog rock masterpiece. But the caveat to epic length songs is diversity and dynamism. The best progressive songs sound like multiple songs smashed together, with movements akin to an orchestral suite, weaving in and out of motifs and themes at the drop of a hat. A brand new hook should be thrown at you every couple of minutes, just to keep you on your toes.
Before we go on, some compliments; sonically, Franklin Zoo is as tight as a band with a decade plus of experience under their belt should be. Guitarists Søren Dabros and Daniel Hecht lay it on thick, with meaty Sabbath chords and occasional psychedelic indulgences, as the swirling phaser passages of “The Void” and “The Chameleon” show. Songs like the title track add flavor with distinct Mellotron samples and lush strings for album closer “The Abandoned”. And singer Rasmus Revsbech’s voice is clear and soaring, providing the perfect counterpoint to the heaviness.
In the end though, Dandelion Child is let down thanks to over-indulgence. FZ don’t give us multi-part suites that shift through mood or motif, but seem intent on giving us overly repetitive, plodding rhythms that go on twice as long as they should. Revsbech’s voice is wasted thanks to drums being too high in the mix, making his lyrics unintelligible. Then again, Revsbech’s lyrics might not be as much of a priority as it would seem, given the non-verbal singing on several passages. It’s hard to appreciate the drama in your music when “dramatic” is your only setting. Most of the songs feel like they have one tempo and that’s it. The more energetic pace on “The Fugitive” is a welcome respite, but by then you’re on track five of six and it’s far too late.
The psychedelic flourishes and fuzzed out solos remind one of classic Sabbath, at least tonally. But while most bands would consider it a compliment to be compared to such a seminal band, Dandelion Child doesn’t remind us of the classic four Sabbath records. Rather, it reminds us of the latter day Sabbath albums when Ozzy was beginning to spiral and nobody was willing to tell the band “No” about anything.
Franklin Zoo want to tap into a universal truth, yet can’t seem to be able to give us a memorable hook in the process. Dandelion Child fails to satisfy because it colors with only one crayon from the box until that poor little crayon is worn down to the nub. The band didn’t want their next album to be ordinary, but it’s hard to break the mold when you don’t even know what to fill it with. 
(2 / 5)
