somewherecold.com (mar 2005)

Hailing from Germany, Malory brings to the table lush sounds and gentle, engaging vocals. The band consists of Jorg Kohler (vox, bass, and programming), Daniel Hammer (guitar, programming, and vox), Daniela Neuhaeuser (vocals and guitar), and Jorg Jakel (drums). The Third Face is Malory’s new offering and it is their first since 2002. From what I hear on this disc, the wait for the new album was more than worth the wait. Malory is shoegaze at its best, with shimmering guitars and breathy vox.

The Third Face begins with “Sleeper.” This is a mid-tempo song with a backbeat, soaring guitars, and Jorg’s fantastically gentle vocals. The bass work is subtle and perfect while the keys lay down an calm ocean of sound for the rest of the music to lie upon. Neuhaeuser and Kohler’s vox play off one another as they support each other’s voices. “Silence Flows Through Noise” begins with spacey keys that are soft and floating. Then, an almost danceable backbeat comes into play. This is filled out with great bass work and Neuhaeuser’s and Kohler’s vocals. The variations in the sounds are subtle, but fantastic, showing that they are adept at both songwriting and mixing. Their sound is captivating and hypnotic. “She Has Gone” begins with bass, keys, and Kohler’s vox. This song reminds me a lot of Slowdive in its feel and sound. Eventually, this changes and Malory’s sound starts to creep out from under their influences. I really like when Neuhaeuser backs up Kohler because her voice is so subtle and a perfect companion to Kohler’s soft, male vocals.

“Take Me Down” begins with a trance type beat and floating, echoing vocals from Neuhaeuser. Elements get added to the mix as the track progresses until there are soaring keys and a dance/electronic type feel to the song. This song has all the makings of a mixture of shoegaze elements and 80’s techno pop/new wave. It is well executed and infectious. “Endora” has an almost light, hip-hop drum feel with glimmering guitars and great bass work. This is a slow temp song with vocals taking a more prominent role in the mix. The bridge of this song is probably my favorite part because the guitars really create a beautifully crystal wall of sound. “Track 11” has a great danceable beat in it and it leans more toward the techno side, with 80’s new wave influences. This may be one of my favorite tracks on the disc, with its danceable grooves and angelic vocals. “Ajar Door” has the same feel to it and is the shortest track on the disc. This reminds me of a mix between The Human League: Octopus and Slowdive with a sprinkle of great dance pop.

“Ray of Hope” begins with somber guitars and it flows into great percussion and bass work. The beat is slow and patient while Neuhaeuser sings softly over the keys and glittery guitar. “Want You” begins with shimmery guitar and a tribal drum beat that is complex and exciting. Neuhaeuser’s vocals are breathy and gorgeous over the beats and the layers of guitars. The drums and bass eventually fad to leave the walls of sound made by guitars. “City Lights” is a bit of a shock to the listener with its fuzzy drums and odd beat. Between the beats, the drums, guitars, and guitars begin to hum. This song has a very hypnotic and lovely feel. The pace is perfect and the arrangement of the song exquisite. Last on the album is “Wake Up.” It begins with Neuhaeuser’s vox in angelic hugeness, with a back beat coming in and soaring walls of guitar. The vox are certainly very Goswellesque, but the German accent really gives her vocals a different flavor and sets Neuhaeuser apart from the Shoegaze goddess. This track is a very strong closing to a very strong album. If you love shoegaze or techno pop in anyway, this album is for you.
score: 4 1/2 of 5 stars (jason)

Hydrogenaudio: Malory - The Third Face" (2005)

Dreamy guitar-soundwalls and vocals in the best slowdive-tradition, but with a a strong synth-pop influence

My favorite next-door band (and coincidentally, one of my shoegaze/synthpop-favorites globally) has gone through quite some changes, during their only 3 releases so far. "The Third Face" is their third album, and marks their point of maturing and "break-through". Everything on this album is in balance, carefully arranged and performed. It obviously went through a long process of polishing. But the result is more than worth the long wait. Except of the average mastering, there really isn't anything i could criticize about this album - and believe me, i'm very creative in that regard *g*

www.losingtoday.com

Tornano i tedeschi Malory a quattro anni di distanza dal precedente bellissimo "Outerbeats", ed è difficile non pensare alle mille difficoltà che il gruppo ha dovuto fronteggiare per arrivare al traguardo del terzo album. Qualcosa della magia presente nei precedenti album sembra essersi persa. Non che manchino le canzoni potenti e sognanti in puro stile shoegaze a "The Third Face", tutt'altro: Sleeper, il brano che apre album, ne è un ottimo esempio; e poi anche Silent Flows Through Noise, She Has Gone, la bellissima Endora, Want You, Wake Up, quindi, a ben vedere , la maggior parte delle canzoni dell'album sono buone. Semmai è la freddezza di alcuni arrangiamenti a destare qualche perplessità (Take Me Down, Track II, Ajar Door). Le chitarre sono sepolte sotto beats elettronici che sanno tanto di Hyperium anni '80 le voci sono alte nel mixer come non lo sono mai state prima. Anche i suoni della batteria acustica sono inaspettatamente asciutti e freddi. Impossibile pensare che sia mancato il tempo ai Malory per perfezionare la resa sonora di queste canzoni. Molto più probabilmente sono mancati i fondi per chiamare un produttore che sapesse esaltarne le qualità. È solo un sogno, ma pensate cosa potrebbe fare uno come Jonas Munk dietro il banco di regia dello studio dei Malory: ne verrebbe fuori un album epocale, c'è da scommetterci. (ROBERTO MANDOLINI)

masstranfer no. 06 (spring 2003)

...malory, i would have gone to mexico to see them! their sound, which blends early 90's shoegazing (a la slowdive) with modern mechanics and technology, is instantly engaging...malory was playing shows in north america this year as part of the alison records tour, that included skywave, mellonova, and about five other bands.

...finally, malory took the stage around midnight, and it was truly enlightening. these germans are extremely profession musicians, and their sound, especially in this small place [the diesel lounge in windsor/ontario], was expensive. they played a few selections from the recently re-released "outerbeats" (an amazing disc), as well as a few newer songs. the drummer seamlessly integrated programmed rhythms into his live playing, which, being a drummer myself, is quite a feat for a live performance. one of the guitarists mostly stood by his half-stack, generating wave upon wave of feedback-laden melodies, all carefully executed.

by the time they played their "hit", "the space of our mind", i was just about melting. it was by far the best show i had seen in a long time - an experience i wish could have been enjoyed by more, but due to a lack of promotion or the fact it was windsor, nobody was there! that's alright though, because it added to a more intimate feel, almost as if they were playing just for me. sure, that sounds like wishful thinking, but my audio wishes came true that night, thanks to malory.

losing today (summer 2001)

malory "not here - not now": a must for fans who miss the dreampop of slowdive's first two albums, "just for a day" and "souvlaki". the german band produces georgeous soundscapes that have not been common with others in recent years...
malory has a male and a female who do this co-ed thing, where the ethereal vocals are joined with a detailed procession of distorted, melodic guitars, and the vocals are wispy and seem like they are floating just right over your head, and the washes of guitar carry the lyrics from trip to trip until you knocked over with an exuberance of joy, and the music creates a lazy style, which is really hiding the strength of passion, and the trance gives you the impression that you are going nowhere, but there is no place you would rather be.
i shouldn't need more to say anymore: if you're a friend of slowdive, you're a friend of malory, and how could you not want such great friends. (nelson ferreira)

zillo no. 9 (september 2000)

already founded in 1995, malory from saxony tries hard for a transformation of the most influential wave-movements into the new century, where the quintet succeeded quite good as far as combining catchy keyboard - harmonics with dense wave - guitar - arrangements and the lost female singing of jördis maschner in a atmospheric coherent style (dirk hoffmann)

fieberkurve no. 19 (summer 2000)

to draw a comparison to slowdive was no accident. there are certain similarities in the structure of their songs, the concept of working up into the warm, soft atmospheric sound carpet, ...and for malory records like 'souvlaki' and 'pygmalion' have been great models more a incentive and never regarded as hindrance...
...the band simply embodies the bundled feeling of the so called 'shoegazer' generation...
...malory experienced on the this years pop2000 in potsdam their greatest moment, connected with the finding that perfectly arranged songs can live only be dealt with an just as perfect sound mixer...

persona non grata no.45 (march/april 2000)

do you know grunau? no? what about malory? never heard before either? ...does not matter. we are going to change that. malory is the up coming thing in the village grunau. such young bands are always rewarding subjects. if everything runs good for the band, one as a scribbler can take some of the success unjustly as its own. just like: see, I´ve always known it. tom and donis still enthuse of the old times when the first blumfeld-article was published in the pe.en.ge. and oasis. and blur. and the big deal that there´s not gone be any apocalypse coming over mankind with the millennium. that all you could read first in the pe.en.ge. all rewarding subjects.

but don´t you take the wrong path to believe, rewarding subjects are simple ones as well. that is not the case. is the subject a young band than there is actually not to much to ascertain. no long back catalog, no fabulous cooperation, still without oppressive label deals and public image. completely irrelevant are all statements done so far which could be somewhat unhealthy for the public image later. significance is what is simply missing when dad is sprawling in front of the television and is railing against the lying politicians rabble. but the well known musician suddenly needs to get arranged with his involuntary status of being part of politics. but your right, let me take a breath. we spoke about malory some crunchy squirts from the province of saxony and not about marius müller westernhagen or jochen distelmeyer.

picture no 2: malory standing in the snow. and they know: of course music can tell stories. never heard of peter and the wolf? but malory are standing in the snow. somewhere. sky. there´s not one hole close. here it has to be damned possible to be heard. and as hard it should be to hear anything here. it is hard for guys like us from pe.en.ge. to get how music can develop without connection into the scene network. you would buy it from malory from grunau if they would answer to the slowdive reference of the author just with a shrug. they admit frankly that elements of this reference size went astray into their sound. more or less conscious. good references. good references. I am completely thrilled. sure - you have never been in that town? where did he got that from, the author is asked. referring concert frequencies dresden ranged long before leipzig. since 'ilses erika' it can´t keep up that range any more.

record number one: not here - not now. malory is defining its own cosmos, their own world and their own time rapt. not here, not now. instead there are sound landscapes from a inverse universe washed against the walls of their studio. find out what kind of sound walls you can build without synthesizer. total effects, all guitar, a slow dive. a concentric stream of desire and melancholy. the man in between. very small. a dwarf and still the origin of everything 'if there is a pleasant shudder down my back I know it fits' layer for layer the dome is growing from freely flowing emotions, in the dispute of the musicians. guitar vs. guitar. his voice against hers. all is colliding with another. and finally it is milling together. a catharsis purifying without screaming destruction. instead it is caught by their wings and carried away. music of next world. and with a few lines one got to the story. just like in the first blumfeld article from donis. this article had not at all the length of his blumfeld essay in pe.en.ge #40 but you can show off with that. and tell your friends. no clue whether they have any idea or just act like it. but there is still somebody sitting down writing an article about us. we moved/got this one. our music (nimrod)

persona non grata no.44 (january 2000)

drowning. lost in music. is this statement applying to the exceedingly succeeded not here - not now as it is tenderly and restrained unfolding into this epic vision. its own sound cosmos. than there is no doubt why obviously so gifted sound creators can not succeed to find the key into the world of the rapt teetering audience on a live performance. after all this music has to be experienced. the soundtrack two-dimensional.

sax (dresden, august 1999)

after the vinyl album from last year the dresden based band 'planet9' brought out a new split single with malory. through the hypnotic - stately but still not quiet 'beauty' has what it takes to become a crowd-puller. good condition for the tour...

fake.zehn (berlin, spring 1999)

i have known it: in grunau time is standing still, the clocks are even moving backwards. but if this has such consequences as this album of the band malory it is quite pleasant to me. in the beginning of the nineties: creation records from england change the world with their typical sound: slowdive, my bloody valentine, sheer... the end of the nineties: new bands do not want this sound to be forgotten. the heroes are called monoland and now malory, too... the longing for the yesterday today. that all is beautiful and works every time. as grunau shows.