For listeners who had caught up with
the Cardigans
on their breakout album,
Life
, the group's third album was a confusing pastiche which included several conventional
pop
songs, but also added tracks with left-field arrangements and some (comparatively) disturbing lyrics. In reality, however, the group had simply returned to the mood and feel of their debut album. On
Emmerdale
, the melancholy was personal and solitary in nature, but here depression is focused on unfaithful lovers -- in both the songs which vocalist
Nina Persson
helped out with lyrics and those written by the rest of the band (
"Choke,"
"Step on Me,"
"The Great Divide"
). Even the single,
"Lovefool,"
is a depressing lament of unrequited affection, and the presence of another
Black Sabbath
cover (
"Iron Man"
) certainly isn't an immediate upper. Still,
First Band on the Moon
is saved by
' core strengths:
Persson
's vocals and
Svensson
's arrangements. ~ John Bush