RESTRICTED AREA REALTIME ALBUM LIFE IS PAINFUL RELEASE: NOVEMBER, 2000 REVIEW: DECEMBER 6, 2000

"Ett gammalt bergstroll" was a great start. I'm not sure what happened after that. Maybe Peter Elm, former, mastermind and now sole member of Restricted Area, played his best card too soon. You can sense he's talented in all of their releases, but I get the feeling he unnecessarily complicates things, does things not originally intended.
"Realtime", the new album on German Life Is Painful Records, is a vibrant palette of the contrasts of his work. At one end there's sweetness and everyday life stories. While the opposite, raped rhythms, body shouts and misguided anxiety, host the other. Oldschool EBM and obstinate synthpop are the dominant styles on "Realtime", with mixtures of the both, roaming some pieces. As a listener, you have trouble finding out which leg to stand on. The fact that the songs are rarely good doesn't exactly boost your enthusiasm either, and it actually concerns me, as I know the capacity of the band.
Peter Elm, aka Restricted Area, is the Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde of electro. He might want to decrease the vast gape between the two.

NIKLAS FORSBERG