Moron Police have been around long enough for Pachinko to be their fourth album release although they are new to me, possibly because the music that the Norwegian-based band creates doesn’t fit into any of the usual pigeon-holes and, it is fair to say, wouldn’t necessarily be on many classic prog lovers to-listen-to lists. However, Pachinko has been very well received by music fans and critics alike and the 15-minute centrepiece, the title track (made up of parts 1 and 2) has created a buzz of discussion about the band’s progressive credentials.
In fact, it has been a huge effort by the band to get this far. The album, their first post-covid release, is a tribute to drummer Thore Omland Pettersen who died in a traffic accident in 2022. The themes of love, friendship, loss and shared memories run through the songs, that are shaped loosely around the concept of an imagined sentient ‘Pachinko’, a gaming machine popular in Japan where metal balls are fed into the vertically-mounted arcade machine and bounce through a maze of pins, reflecting our fate to be locked into the chaos and unpredictability of life.
The themes may be serious and a little dark but the music is dynamic and lively and has a bright fluidity that is influenced by Japanese fusion music as much as it is by the Norwegian prog-metal sounds that are always bubbling under the surface. This is aided by stand-in drummer Billy Rymer, who has done a great job carrying on the legacy of Thore, and has a similarly busy and uncompromising playing style. The overall effect is similar to the kind of head-scratching appeal that King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard provide, where the complexity of the arrangements is a purposeful smoke-screen that the listener is challenged to venture through to unlock the melodic, pop-orientated songs that are at the core of band leader and song-writer Sondre Skollevoll’s craft.
The multi-talented Mr. Skollevoll is also lead vocalist. He has a commanding and expressive voice, the strength of which suggests that he has had formal training, or at least some experience of singing on stage in a theatrical context. Tracks one and two could very well exist in a musical theatre setting, they are big band numbers with rousing choruses, and Alfredo and the Afterlife even coming across as slightly camp. Waiting Around for You is a more recognisably sounding prog rock song, but it races along, almost as if you’d put a Big Big Train LP on the gramophone at 78 rpm by mistake (haven’t we all done that before?). A lush prog epic delivered at 100 mph and done and dusted in the time it takes to listen to one side of a 7” single.
Cormorant has a stadium-friendly, all guns blazing outro that begins somewhat prematurely at around the two-minute mark, bringing to a close this frenetic section of the set. It’s been a quickfire round that certainly packed a punch. There is a noble tradition of punk and new wave bands firing off classic albums thirty minutes or so long, crammed with tracks coming in at or below three minutes. If I’m honest, knowing that Pachinko is double that length is, at this point, a tad daunting.
As it happens, track five, Make Things Easier is a mellow song with Sondre Skollevoll just accompanied by acoustic guitar. It is a splendid little piece with a poignant lyric;
Well, I know you’ll do
Hide yourself from all that you are
It can take you far…
It can make things easier”
The aforementioned Pachinko (Pt. 1) is up next. As someone who was brought up on the classic prog epics, I can only say that this is a new take on epic-ness. A progressive take on the structure of a longer length track is to be admired, but unfortunately, I haven’t been able to work out the merit of it in this case. Four songs of a similar nature to what has gone before are melded together. Despite a clear attempt to add some characterisation in the vocals, it’s confusing lyrically because the story-telling is hard to decipher, even with the lyric sheet to hand, and it’s confusing musically because I’m waiting for the music to be an integral part of the story-telling, to represent the drama and the emotion, the ups and the downs that would normally reveal themselves seductively over the course of the composition. However, there isn’t anything in the style or arrangements across the four sections that elevates these eleven minutes above the form of the tracks that have gone before, and that leaves me disappointed.
In Pt. 2 the characterisation continues with an uplifting (borderline camp, again) tune seemingly inspired by imagining the outcome of Sparks doing a cover of Robbie Williams, which is fine, but I’m struggling to join the dots in terms of the story-line and the story-telling.
Track 8 King among Kittens is a more straight-forward pop/rock song, complete with 80’s style synth and sax solos. Simplifying the arrangement seems to work fine in this case, and this track is a great start to what turns out to be a much more satisfying second half to the album. Take me to the City is more frenetic but the extended instrumental break at the heart of the track is ambitious, infectious and hugely enjoyable. The opening to The Apathy of Kings is pure Japanese fusion, so if you like that sort of thing it’s a treat, and is followed by a calming vocal harmony section and a closing piano solo that builds up to a gorgeously melodic finale, making it probably the most complete and recognisably progressive piece on the album. Hanabi, or ‘fireworks’ in English, is a short instrumental interlude that is simply the introduction to Okinawa Sky, which follows seamlessly. This track is pure synth pop, and that’s certainly not to be taken as a bad thing. It is executed beautifully and stands out as a very different style of composition compared to the rest of the album, which begs lots of questions, not least of which is who are the band aiming to please with this record?
The Sentient Dreamer is Sondre Skollevoll accompanied by piano, providing a more obviously literal chapter in the album’s concept, and the album closes with the ironically titled, but redemptive Giving Up the Ghost. The lyric is nicely ambiguous, but I read it as a conversation between the two friends, with the passing of time allowing them to process their grief, and, in the song, say the things out loud that may have been unsaid during the friendship.
Now I leave it all to you
It’s up to you whether you walk your own way
I know you’ll find your truth
And remember that I love you
Always”
In an album of (almost) relentlessly upbeat tunes, this is the most upbeat-y of them all. The mixing of the track also provided the final contribution from Thore, a series of thunderous drum rolls that provide the climax to the track, and the set.
Moron Police’s musical style being a given inevitably meant that this tribute would turn out to be a celebration of life, rather than a soundtrack to a wake. I have to say that the album as a whole doesn’t really do it for me, because the arrangements and production just try a bit too hard all the time, putting too much effort into creating a signature sound and not enough into crafting a consistently enjoyable listening experience. Having said that, there is high quality to be had, in waves, and almost transcendent beauty in brief moments. I wouldn’t go so far as to recommend this album to an audience of classic prog aficionados, but it’s always good to take a chance on finding something a bit different once in a while, and this is certainly a bit different.
TRACK LISTING
01. Nothing Breaks (A Port of Call) (4:45)
02. Alfredo and the Afterlife (2:31)
03. Waiting Around for You (3:31)
04. Cormorant (3:35)
05. Make Things Easier (2:38)
06. Pachinko, Pt. 1 (11:44)
07. Pachinko, Pt. 2 (4:10)
08. King Among Kittens (3:48)
09. Take Me to the City (3:49)
10. The Apathy of Kings (5:10)
11. Hanabi (0:51)
12. Okinawa Sky (4:15)
13. The Sentient Dreamer (2:57)
14. Giving Up the Ghost (6:00)
Total Time – 60:24
MUSICIANS
Sondre Skollevoll – Guitars, Vocals, Synths, Piano, Double Bass, Desert Bass, Banjo, Percussion, Programming & Arrangements
Lars Christian Bjørknes – Synths, Piano, Organs, Melodica, Percussion, Backing Vocals, Programming & Arrangements
Christian Fredrik Holtsteen – Bass, Fretless Bass
(And forever) Thore Omland Pettersen – Drum Outro (14)
Billy Rymer – Drums
~ With:
William Grøv Skramsett – Trumpet
Morten Norheim – Saxophone
Claudia Cox – Violin, Hardanger Fiddle
Marius Westling – Violin, Hardanger Fiddle
Oleg Bezuglov – Violin, Hardanger Fiddle
Gabriel Bastos – Violin, Hardanger Fiddle
Simen Hallset – Additional Backing Vocals
Edgar Vivas – Cello
Felipe Manuel Sosa – Oboe
Robert Julian Badenhope Hvistendahl – Percussion
ADDITIONAL INFO
Record Label: Independent
Country of Origin: Norway
Date of Release: 28th November 2025
LINKS
Moron Police – Website | Facebook | Bandcamp | YouTube | Instagram
