Pulp – Hordern Pavilion, Sydney 27 July 2011

I listened to Pulp allot in the mid to late 90’s so to say I was very excited was an understatement.  I managed to get into the venue about 10 minutes before Pulp came on stage thanks to the Hordern’s website listing their start time as being 15 minutes later.  By this time those gathered were treated to laser show to get them warmed up for Pulp’s arrival.  This constituted questions like “Are you ready?”, “Would you like to see a Dolphin?” & “Do You Remember the First Time?” being projected by a laser on a screen at the front of the stage.  With the last question the band opened with “Do You Remember The First Time?”. 

I had been told that Pulp were a great live band by I friend who had seen them years ago and I never quite believed him but I can say that he was “On It”, as were Pulp.  The set was “Different Class” heavy with only “Monday Morning” not getting an airing.  “Do You Remember…” & “Disco 2000” got the crowd sing and dancing.  “Sorted For E’s & Wizz” included a great use of the laser to give the impression of being on “E’s & Wizz” along with some sights and sounds of Glastonbury.  “F.E.E.L.I.N.G.C.A.L.L.E.D.L.O.V.E”, from live recordings, always seemed to work better live and it didn’t disappoint. “Babies” was a little rough but it is such seminal song so it was still fun to have a sing along to.  “This Is Hardcore” sounded massive and was a surprise as I didn’t think it would work live.  Another surprise was “Sunrise” which I have never taken to but live it was given a new life.  “Common People” was the last song of the main set and we were informed that Russell wasn’t with the band for this tour because of his fear of flying so a guest violin player was used   Obvious this song went off.  It's amazing that a song from 20 years ago still sounds vital and current.

The encore began with “Like A Friend” a song I’m not familiar with.  I enjoyed it but not as much as the last song of the night “Mis-Shapes”.  An anthem for the aging hipsters in the crowd, me included.

I can’t say enough how great Pulp were and how great I was to hear them do justice to these songs.  Gig of the year!? Surely?!

Setlist:

Do You Remember The First Time?

Pink Glove

Bad Cover Version

Pencil Skirt

Something Changed

Disco 2000

Sorted For E's & Wizz

F.E.E.L.I.N.G.C.A.L.L.E.D.L.O.V.E

I Spy

Babies

Underwear

This Is Hardcore

The Fear

Sunrise

Bar Italia

Common People

~encore~

Like a Friend

Live Bed Show

Mis-Shapes

The Kills – The Metro, Sydney 26 July 2011

The crowd at the Metro were as cool as fuck.  Like the Modest Mouse show there seemed to be a number of people just there to be seen.  The Kills are an interesting prospect as a live band.  A lion’s share of the music that is being presented live is pre-recorded backing tracks.  So the energy of the show is resting on live guitars and vocals. 

Alison Mosshart is an engaging front woman and puts everything into her performance.  For the most part she is the reason why this band works live.  She moves and emotes along with the songs to give them the energy that the backing is missing.  Jamie Hince is essentially a side man and seems to have a minimalist approach to the guitar even at one point joking how he got so far playing Guitar when he could barely tune one. 

The set was largely based on the bands most recent album “Blood Pressures”.  The highlights for the set came from “Heart Is a Beating Drum”, the groovy “U.R.A. Fever”, “Tape Song” and sweet “Baby Says”.  A few slower numbers in the set, “One Silver Dollar” and “The Last Goodbye”, gave the some of the guys in the audience the change to swoon and gush over miss Mosshart.  There was even a fellow in front of me who kept making heart shapes with his hands, what’s with that, man up.

Beyond the hype The Kills put on a great live show and are really committed to their music and their performance. 

Setlist:

No Wow

Future Starts Slow

Heart Is a Beating Drum

Kissy Kissy

U.R.A. Fever

DNA

Satellite

Tape Song

Baby Says

One Silver Dollar (Cover)

You Don't Own the Road

Sour Cherry

~encore~

The Last Goodbye

Pull A U

Pots and Pans

Fried My Little Brains

Modest Mouse – Enmore Theatre, Sydney 25 July 2011

We arrived at the Enmore Theatre 20 minutes before the scheduled start time and the venue was full of people who didn’t look like they belonged at a Modest Mouse show.  This show was a strange one in that the band seemed to be abandoning plans and mixing the set up for what was probably to the detriment of the flow of the show. 

The set was drawn from all of their records with “Good News…” being the most represented album with 6 songs.  The band played around with arrangements and jammed out a few numbers which was when I enjoyed their set the most.  The new songs “Gravity Rides Again” & “Poison The Well” were both interesting numbers and encouraging signs of what a long overdue new album might hold.  The highlights were "Satin In A Coffin", "Dance Hall", "King Rat" & "Gravity Rides Everything"
Though they didn't didn't quite get there it was still a great night out with one of America best bands. 

Setlist:

Satin In A Coffin

The View

Dramamine

Dashboard

Fire It Up

I Came as a Rat

Paper Thin Walls

Blame It on the Tetons

Dance Hall

King Rat

Gravity Rides Everything

Poison the Well

Float On

~encore~

Bukowski

The Whale Song

Wild Packs Of Family Dogs

A Quest for Prog 6: Can – Future Days

"A Quest for Prog" is a series of 50 Progressive Rock reviews to be written over a year.  The band selection is taken from the book in the first post on this blog.  And the albums I am reviewing is based on the highest user ratings for each band on Progarchives.com.

Can – Future Days (1973)

Produced by Can

Holger Czukay – Bass, double bass

Michael Karoli – Guitar, violin

Jaki Liebezeit – Drums, percussion

Irmin Schmidt – Keyboards, synthesizers

Damo Suzuki – Vocals, percussion

Track listing:

Side one:

01. Future Days (9:30)

02. Spray (8:29)

03. Moonshake (3:04)

Side two:

01. Bel Air (20:00)

Released in 1973 "Radio Days" was the fifth album by German band Can and the last to feature vocalist Damo Suzuki.  Formed in 1968 after Irmin Schmidt spent some time in New York and in his own words was “Corrupted” by the Velvet Underground and the Factory scene.  Can are credited as being one of the first Krautrock bands and focused on improved and spontaneous recordings. 

I have friends who like this band a lot and for some reason I have never heard any of their music.  Future Days is a very disjointed and sparse sounding record.  On my first listen it seemed a very incomplete album, almost primitive.  The recordings, from what I could tell, were for the most part improvisations that were build upon and manipulated in the studio.

The album begins with the title track “Future Days”.  The track begins with ambient industrial sounds.  The song proper sits on a bed of live drums and other percussion like steel drums and wood blocks.  The instrumentation over top is very ambient and minimal with instruments making brief appearances and then disappearing.  The vocals begin very quiet and slowly pick up volume as the song progresses.  This song seems like a number of unrelated recordings being pieced together.  The vocals especially have the speed altered and changed for different lines.  This track is quite puzzling but at the same time quite captivating.

 “Spray” follows on and is a more upbeat tune.  This track has an even more chopped and manipulated sound.  I think this is what The Flaming Lips Carpark experiments might have sounded like.  At the start it almost sounded like a bad cassette copy of the album where it was popping and flipping between channels.  The actual music in the track sounds very much like 60’s exotica with heavy percussion and some nice guitar lines.

The “Pop” song of the album finishes off the first side of the album.  “Moonshake” is an almost conventional song.  Clocking in at just over 3 minutes, with a linear song structure and melody this song reminds me of an upbeat Velvet Underground.  This song seems a little like a throw away to me.

The second side of the album is dedicated to the 20min “Bel Air”.  This track is quite Jazzy and at point almost feels like a waltz.  The vocals are the strongest on this song with song really sweet melodies along the way. The song has a number of different sections as with most Progressive songs over 20 minutes in length.  There are some interesting freak out sections and really jazzy parts as well.  It’s quite an interesting piece albeit quite long.

This is an interest album but I can’t get past the fact that it sounds incomplete to me.  I enjoy the deconstructed, or is that reconstructed, idea behind the music but sonically it it doesn’t hit the mark for me.  Maybe if I give it some time it might connect with me more?

5/10 

An Emerald City – The Forth

An Emerald City – The Forth (2011)

Produced by An Emerald City

Dan Katz - Drums, percussion

Felix Lun - Violin

Jessica Roth - Bass

Sam Handley - Synths, guitars, percussion, vocoder

Reuben Bonner - Guitars, synths, vocals, percussion, bass, vocoder

Rob Croft - Percussion, bass, sitar, drum machine

Ben Mortensen - Flute (on The Eighth)

Track listing:

01. b31 (9:41)

02. Seizuretron (6:08)

03. Circa Scaria (5:45)

04. The Fourth (9:39)

05. Key To The Kingdom (5:14)

06. Ulica Bolslaw (4:00)

07. The Eighth (5:58)

08. Casual Encounters (9:28)

An Emerald City is a New Zealand band currently residing in Berlin.   The Forth is the bands third release after 2008’s “An Emerald City” ep and 2009’s “Circa Scaria” album.  Their previous releases have been based on acoustic and stripped back instrumentation being layered and built upon.  In some ways similar to Mogwai where songs build and build except with without the overdrive.  On this release the band have moved to a more electric sound, which adds an interesting new element to their sound.

The albums first song “b31” begins with a field recording of some very unusual keyboard playing.  The song proper merges in and takes over the track with a Trip Hop drum pattern and pulsating Keyboards.  This song has a nice groove and introduces synthesized keyboards.  Eastern influenced Strings are layered in for an interesting mix of textures.  This is a really strong track and a great start to the album.  

Following on is “Seizuretron”.  The song is anchored by a woodblock drum loop and live drums.  The groove is intricate but simple enough to get you foot going.  The song builds and get’s heavier with Violin and Sitar added to bring it to a crescendo.

 “Circa Scaria” probably unsurprisingly sounds most like the previous album of the same name.  This song is more stripped back and has a strong eastern feel to it.  It’s a nice track and has a nice Sitar line.   The violins remind me of Faith No More’s Woodpecker Form Mars.

The forth track is…well “The Forth”.  This song is more electronic than the previous two songs.  The bass and the keyboards get into a solid groove which gives Dan Katz’s drummer room to play with beats.  The guitars and vocal samples are chopped and break in and out of the track.  The song adds some Drum and Bass style Keyboard and Vocal lines near the end to give it a different feel.  Although it’s a 9 minute long track it doesn’t lose your interest. 

“Key To The Kingdom” slows things right down with a slow almost jazzy groove.  It has some cool and almost out of place instrumentation along the way from Horror Rock Keyboards to Blast Beats. 

“Ulica Bolslaw” follows on and is a Trans Am/Primal Scream style track.  The keyboards reminded me of Primal Screams cover of “Some Velvet Morning”.  It’s an upbeat track with a driving Drum Beat and the best keyboard signature on the album in the second half of the song.  A really good tune.

The seventh track is umm….”The Eighth”.  This song is driven by a percussive drum signature and shakers.  It is similar in style to “Seizuretron” and “Circa Scaria” but with the eastern flavour toned down.  The piano has an interesting tone almost like it was recorded from a distance.  It’s an unusual sound and makes for a sightly unusual melody.  The song builds and become quite spacey near the end.  One of the weaker tracks on the album but still interesting. 

The final song is ”Casual Encounters”.  I didn’t get this song at all and got quite bored in the latter half of it.  It doesn’t really go anywhere but has some a few bits and pieces of interest along the way.  The song falls into shambles near the end and is a disappointing end to the record.

I like a lot of this album but there are point where is drags on.  The first 6 songs are really strong and the sound this band makes is dynamic and interesting but a few average songs let this album down.  That being said surely they are one of the best and original New Zealand band active at the moment.

7/10

A Quest for Prog 5: Camel - Moonmadness

"A Quest for Prog" is a series of 50 Progressive Rock reviews to be written over a year.  The band selection is taken from the book in the first post on this blog.  And the albums I am reviewing is based on the highest user ratings for each band on Progarchives.com.

Camel - Moonmadness (1976)

Produced by Rhett Davies and Camel

Andrew Latimer – Guitars, flute, vocals on "Another Night" and "Air Born"

Peter Bardens – Keyboards, vocals on "Spirit of the Water"

Doug Ferguson – Bass, vocals on "Song Within a Song"

Andy Ward – Drums, percussion, voice on "Aristillus"

Track listing:

Side one:

1. Aristillus (1:56)

2. Song Within a Song (7:16)

3. Chord Change (6:45)

4. Spirit of the Water (2:07)

Side two:

1. Another Night (6:58)

2. Air Born (5:02)

3. Lunar Sea (9:11)

Released in 1976 "Moonmadness " was the fourth album by English band Camel.  Formed in 1971 after Andrew Latimer, Andy Wardbacking & Doug Ferguson backed Phillip Goodhand-Tait on his album "I Think I'll Write a Song".  They added Peter Bardens to the line up and become Camel.  Camel was part of the Canterbury scene had considerable success in Europe and America.  

I had been interested in hearing some Camel for a while so when it came time to review this album I was quite excited.  One thing that stood out to me when after my first listen was how much this album sounds like mid 70’s Pink Floyd.  Even down to Andrew Latimer having a strikingly similar vocal style to David Gilmour.

The album beings with the short Keyboard lead track “Aristillus” which sounds like it could find a home easily in a 70’s Sci-Fi film.  It it’s fun but hasn’t aged well. 

Following on is “Song Within A Song” sung by bass player Doug Ferguson.  This is quite a nice tune with some interesting guitar and flute work.  It is quite restrained and though it keeps a nice movement.  That being said the song really doesn’t go anywhere or change.  It think it's a nice song but maybe too nice.

The next song “Chord Change” really didn’t do anything for me.  Starts off well with and upbeat guitar passage and slows it down through the piece but it neither parts are beyond ok. 

“Spirit of the Water” is the last track on side one and is the first song on the album that really works for me.  A slower folky tune in the vein of King Crimson’s quieter material from “In The Court Of The Crimson King”.  The piano and the Flute work really well here and Peter Bardens’ vocals are strong.  Good tune from a rather uninspiring first side.

The second side starts of with “Another Night”.  This song begins with a interesting guitar passage before becoming a strong 70’s rocker.  They music has layers of interesting instrumentation like a talk box line buried in the mix.  The pace is also a pleasant change from the rest of the album has features some great drum work from Andy Ward.  I can see why this song was selected in an edited form as a single.  A really good song.

Up next is “Air Born” a song that reminded me of Dire Straits for some reason.  The song is intended to sound like you are flying and on that that they are very successful but as a song it doesn’t work for me.   The song is quite phased out and unfortunately this makes it a bit washy, especially Andrew Latimer’s vocals. 

The album ends with its saving grace “Lunar Sea”.  This is a great piece of music.  Beginning with some spacey keyboards and bubbling sounds to set the mood this song is a real journey.  The bass and drums lock into a great grove that that is really funking while Andrew Latimer’s guitar and Peter Bardens’ Keyboards play around on top of it.  This song has the movement and energy that most of the albums lacks.  Although the keyboards do sound rather cheesy its still a really fun listen.  The song really opens up in the later half when the tempo is brought up and the band really lets go.  The guitars and bass are the real stars here.

Although well regarded amongst the Prog communities I have to say that this album left me unimpressed.  Maybe because I being harsh because I had expectations but  Moonmadness unfortunately just didn’t deliver.  There are three strong tracks on here “Spirit of the Water”, “Another night” & “Lunar Sea” which I will enjoy in the future and gives me hope there might be some diamonds in the rough in Camel’s back catalogue.

4/10

Sepultura - Kairos

Sepultura - Kairos (2011)
Produced by Roy Z

Derrick Green – vocals, additional guitars
Andreas Kisser – guitars
Paulo Jr. – bass guitar
Jean Dolabella – drums, percussion

Track listing:
01. Spectrum (4:03)
02. Kairos (3:37)
03. Relentless (3:36)
04. 2011 (0:30)
05. Just One Fix (3:33)
06. Dialog (4:57)
07. Mask (4:31)
08. 1433 (0:31)
09. Seethe (2:27)
10. Born Strong (4:40)
11. Embrace the Storm (3:32)
12. 5772 (0:29)
13. No One Will Stand (3:17)
14. Structure Violence (Azzes) (5:39)
15. 4648 (0:28)

Sepultura have been my favourite band for almost 20 years now.  I was first introduced to them through a friend who had a few of their cassettes which I copied and fell in love with.  Although the band I loved is long gone and now fractured in different groupings (Sepultura,Soulfly, Cavalera Conspiracy) I will always buy anything from the Sepultura family (Tribe).
This brings us to 2011's Kairos.  The current line up of Andreas, Derrick, Jean & Paulo make their second record together, the first being the disappointing A-Lex.  The first thing you notice is how heavy this record is compared any of the albums the band has released since Max Cavalera left the band.
The album is split into 4 sections and the first begins with "Spectrum" which has a great groove and some great vocals from Derrick.  I can see this song going down great live.
Following on is "Kairos" which was also the first taster from album. This is classic Sepultura which has a really strong Chaos AD feel to it.  It reminds me of Manifest of that record.
Track three "Relentless" lives up to it's name.  The Double Bass Drum keep rolling for pretty much the whole song.  This is a really brutal track and another fantastic Derrick vocal.  All the detractors should give this one a listen.
After the interlude "2011" the second section begins with a fine cover "Just One Fix" originally by Ministry.  I've gotta admit that this musically sounds a whole lot like Rammstein.  Don't let that put you off I think it points more to how much Ramstein ripped off early industrial bands like Ministry.  Fun but not a standout.
Next is "Dialog".  The riff and the chorus is great on this one but I'm not 100% sold on the spoken word verses.  But as someone who has wanted Derrick to mix his vocals up it's good to see him trying something new.
"Mask" is one of the stand outs on this album.  Driving and groovy verses with some awesome drumming from Jean.  Another track I think will work great live.

 "Seethe" Begins the heaviest section of the album and is proceeded by the second interlude "1433".  This track takes us back to 1991 and has a great Arise era feel.  This is a song seriously heavy track.
"Born Strong" has a cool almost indie guitar line from Andreas but keeps the tempo "Seethe".  The third song in this section is "Embrace The Storm" and it continues as the previous two but this time they are tapping Pantera.  These three song are really strong and are the kind of heaviness I have missed from this band.
But then it gets faster.  The last section begins with "No One Will Stand" a hardcore track that is a real thrill.  This band has always done fast songs well and this is no exception.
The final song on the album proper is "Structure Violence (Azzes)" a collaboration with French industrial percussion band Tambour Du Bronx.  It is very industrial and percussion heavy in the same vein as "Lookaway" & "Mine" from the Roots era.  It's the most eclectic song and I think for me that is it failing.  The album as a whole is very heavy and that's what I wanted from this band now.  Even though I don't think there is a weak track song on the album an 8 track version with Spectrum, Kairos, Relentless, Mask, Seethe, Born Strong, Embrace the Storm & No One Will Stand would be amazing.

This album is a real return to form for Sepultura and a real treat to have on my CD shelf.  Let's only hope that the band plays in our cities soon and then we get another great record soon.

8/10

A Quest for Prog 4: Banco del Mutuo Soccorso - Io Sono Nato Libero

"A Quest for Prog" is a series of 50 Progressive Rock reviews to be written over a year.  The band selection is taken from the book in the first post on this blog.  And the albums I am reviewing is based on the highest user ratings for each band on Progarchives.com.

Banco del Mutuo Soccorso - Io Sono Nato Libero (1973)
Produced by Sandro Colombini

Vittorio Nocenzi – Organ, synths, spinet
Gianni Nocenzi – Piano, electric piano
Marcello Todaro – Electric guitar, acoustic guitar
Renato D'Angelo – bass, acoustic guitar
Pier Luigi Calderoni – drums, percussion
Francesco Di Giacomo – vocals
Rodolfo Maltese – Acoustic and electric guitar
Silvana Aliotta – Percussion
Bruno Perosa – Percussion

Track listing:
Side one:
1. Canto nomade per un prigioniero politico (15:46) (Nomad chant for a political prisoner)
2. Non mi rompete (5:09) (Don't bother me)
Side two:
3. La città sottile (7:13) (The subtle town)
4. Dopo... niente è più lo stesso (9:55) (Then... nothing is still the same)
5. Traccia II (2:39) (Track II)

Released in 1973 "Io Sono Nato Libero ", translating as “I Was Born Free”, was the third album by Italian band Banco del Mutuo Soccorso.  Formed in Rome, Italy by brothers Vittorio and Gianni Nocenzi they initially influenced by Gentle Giant, EL&P and Jethro Tull.  The band released two records in 1972, “Banco del Mutuo Soccorso” and “Darwin”, before releasing this album.
“Io Sono Nato Libero” begins with the 15min long track “Canto nomade per un prigioniero politico”.  Like all prog tracks of this length the song has a lot of sections and styles.  This song moves from quiet Piano/Vocals passages to Spanish Guitars to ELP style keyboard jams to strange freakouts to Jazz passages.  It goes to allot of places and is a really exciting piece of music.  I’ve listened to this song a number of times and it still surprises and keeps me interested for the whole 15 mins.  I get the impression Banco del Mutuo Soccorso are not a band that overplays for the sake of overplaying and in this genre are actually quite restrained.   A really impressive piece of music. 
The second song on the album “Non mi rompete” is a sixties style folk song.  It immediately reminded me of Donovan for some reason.  It’s a nice song and the chorus is particularly good. 

Side two starts with “La città sottile” which is a really interesting tune.  It’s a groovy and dark song that features some discordant jazz piano lines.  But there are also some space rock synth lines that come as a surprise but work really well.  The Guitar and Drums are really tasteful and in the world of prog are very simple but add allot t.o the song because of it  There’s also a Spoken Word/Jazz freak our section which adds to the Jazz/Space Rock vibe of the song. 
Following on is “Dopo... niente è più lo stesso”.  It begins with an electronica section that concidering this was an early 70's recording sounds very contempory.  This track then goes into a guitar driven passage which as a nice tempo and movement.  It breaks down into a semi classical Piano/Synth passage that is odd and pretty at the same time.  At about the halfway mark it moves into a section that sounds a lot like early 80’s Jethro Tull but with a Space Rock vibe.  Pretty cool and unusual.
The last song on the album is a short piece called “Traccia II” a song that wouldn’t be out of place on the “Clockwork Orange” Soundtrack.  Or for those of younger years 8-bit/Midi versions of songs that float around on the internet.  Cool little track and an interesting way to finish quite a diverse record.
I still haven’t quite gotten my head around this album because I am still being surprised by it.  If you are looking for instrumental workout then I wouldn’t recommend this but for those who want to be taken on a journey give these guy’s a go.

8/10

A Quest for Prog 3: Änglagård - Epilog

"A Quest for Prog" is a series of 50 Progressive Rock reviews to be written over a year.  The band selection is taken from the book in the first post on this blog.  And the albums I am reviewing is based on the highest user ratings for each band on Progarchives.com.

Änglagård - Epilog (1994)

Produced by Änglagård & Roger Skogh

Mattias Olsson – Drums, Cymbals and Percussion

Johan Högberg – Bass

Thomas Johnson – Hammond organ, Mellotron and Keyboards

Jonas Engdegård – Guitar

Tord Lindman – Guitar

Anna Holmgren – Flute

Åsa Eklund – Voice

Martin Olofsson – Violin

Karin Hansson – Viola

Jan C. Norlander – Cello

Track listing:

1. Prolog (2:00)

2. Höstsejd (15:32) (Rites of Fall)

3. Rösten (0:14) (The Voice)

4. Skogsranden (10:48) (Eaves of the Forest)

5. Sista somrar (13:10) (The Last Summer)

6. Saknadens fullhet (2:00) (The Fullness of Longing)

Released in 1994 "Epilog" was the second and last album by Swedish band Änglagård. 

“Epilog” is essentially three 10 minute plus instrumental works with a few short pieces to top and tail the album.  The songs share a similar compositional structure in that they move from mellow passages to heavier passages (reminiscent of Dream Theater and Rush) a number of times within one song.  The band are very accomplish musicians and can tackle extreme shifts in time and texture with ease.  But for me the mellow passages of these tracks are where they get interesting.     

The first song “Prolog” is more of an intro to the record with strings and flute.  It sounds like the opening credits music to an old B&W film. 

“Höstsejd” is the first of the three major compositions and for the first 5 or so minutes sounds like a cross between Rush and Yes.  The next section is a stripped back Flute, Keyboard and Guitar passage that has some great restrained playing.  It’s quite folky and atmospheric and goes on for about 4 minutes before returning to the signature from the first section.  This section goes for a few minutes before the forth section begins with a subtle piano and then the Flute returns for some interesting lines and melodies before the last section.  This section features what I can only describe as a carnival keyboard line and slowly ramps up with the Guitars, Bass and Drums entering into a jumble at the end of the song. 

“Skogsranden” is preceded by a very short vocal intro “Rösten”.  “Skogsranden” begins with a slow guitar, Flute and Piano section which reminds me of British folk groups like Pentangle.  It builds up for 2 and half minutes before the drums begin.  The second section features the electric instruments and some interesting synthesized vocals.  There are a number of time changes and Guitar, Bass and Keyboard acrobatics in this section.  Good fun.  A third section begins about 5 minutes in.  This section features some nice subtle bass playing and female vocals.  Kind of gothic and it reminds me of quieter passages that norwegian black metal bands love.  The flute returns for some nice lines.  The quite is broken at the 9 and a half minute mark when electric instruments return for the last section.  This last section is a bit of a letdown as I would have liked the song to end on a slower note.

The final major composition is “Sista Somrar”.  Begins with the lightest instrumentation all of the songs and features a small string section.  This is probably by favourite section of the whole album and offers a new colour texture to the palette.  The electric instruments arrive abruptly at the 4 minute mark with a section similar in style to bands like Dream Theater.  This section reigns itself in with Flutes and Keyboards adding much needed lushness to the instrumental workouts.  There are times when this section made me think of 80’s Jethro Tull with the Flute and Guitar interplay.  The final section begins at about the 10 minute mark with acoustic guitar and the ever present Flute.  The electric instruments return to finish the track in a more subdued setting.  It’s nice to have an electric section without lots of notes and time signatures coming at you.

The closing credits of the album is “Saknadens fullhet” which is a short piano piece that ends the album off nicely.

I’m of two minds when it comes to this album in that I enjoy it when I’m listening to it but at times I get frustrated by the tendency for acrobatics when the eclectic sections arrive.  “Epilog” is interesting and at time exciting and by a group of a very accomplished group of musicians.  If you like your prog on the technical side then give these guys a listen.

6/10