Title: Hybris
Artiste: Anglagard
Genre: Progressive Rock (yay!)
Familiarity: Zero
Recommended by: Grindy
Expectations: From the description of their music --- early Genesis, Yes, King Crimson etc --- I expect to love the bones off this.
1. Jordrök : Beautiful piano intro, I hear the early work of Tony Banks indeed, then it kicks up in more a Yes vein. I see they use instruments such as tambourines, castanets, gongs, even tubular bells! Some lovely flute now, echoing the big G, though this is the nineties and not the seventies. Certainly evokes the atmosphere of albums like
Trespass and
Foxtrot. Big church organ now; halfway through and no vocals. Will this be an instrumental? Seems to almost stop twice during its eleven-minute run. Doubt there will be any singing now, as we head into the ninth. No, all instrumental.
2. Vandringar i vilsenhet: Soft flute starting this off, with rippling harp (?) then the good old mellotron makes its comeback (shame on you Tony!) slowly marching into the tune like a much slower “Watcher of the skies” before it kicks up and guitar joins in. Another long track, another eleven minutes plus, still at this point no vocals. Oh, there they are. In Swedish of course, so who knows what he's singing but it's getting more frenetic now. Sort of think I preferred it as just the music. Ending now on a kind of slow stately march with flute leading the way to the exit.
3. Ifrån klarhet till klarhet : This one is only (!) eight minutes long and comes in softly on what may be violin then heavy keyboard and guitar as it bounces along in an almost comical way; reminds me of certain parts of “Supper's ready” or “The Knife”. Slowing down now almost in ballad form with an early vocal and now some again very “SR” acoustic guitar. These guys must have been heavily influenced by seventies Genesis. Lovely flute solo now. Heading back to the original bouncy melody with some fine mellotron, winding up for a big finish now.
4. Kung bore: Comes in on a lovely rippling soft acoustic guitar and flute with I think some piano? Hard to tell, it's all so quiet initially. Mind you, this is the longest track at over thirteen minutes, so I'm expecting it to ... and there it goes, romping up on mellotron into a bouncy rhythm with attendant flute,which then takes the tune as it slips into a much softer groove, the acoustic guitar this time playing backup as the vocals come in. It works really well this time. Really nice soft mellotron passage before it picks up again into a long instrumental passage then the vocal comes back in, somehow darker this time, with a harder melody beneath it. Vocal is almost spoken now before powerful keys pound in and then there's a strong instrumental close, before the flute is left to bring the curtain down.
End result: Very good album; definite reminders of Genesis and Yes, but interesting that it's an album from 1992. They evoke the atmosphere and sound of seventies prog very well. Enjoyed that a lot.
So, Love or Hate? Another
Love.