Susanna
(Rune Grammofon)
Thin Lizzy songs don't exactly lend themselves to dour, downcast and downtempo acoustic renderings, but as Norwegian singer Susanna Wallumrød proves on her second solo album, almost any song can be recast as a dark bummer of a tune. Such reconception is not unfamiliar to Wallumrød; although she and her group (Susanna and the Magical Orchestra) notably took on "Love Will Tear Us Apart" and Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" on their 2006 album Melody Mountain, they also had the guts to take on Prince's "Condition of the Heart" on a tribute album.
Prince's catalog is again broached on Flower of Evil, this time with a drowsy, piano-based version of the once-jaunty "Dance On." This willingness to reimagine any number of artists' songs - from Black Sabbath's "Changes" and Tom Petty's "Don't Come Around Here No More" to ABBA's "Lay Your Love On Me" and Bonnie "Prince" Billy's "Joy and Jubilee" makes Flower of Evil much less an album of "here are my influences" covers than a riveting and highly individual disc that just happens to use other artists' work as a starting point.
Standout Tracks: "Dance On," "Jailbreak" JASON FERGUSON
