The 1000th Review by GW
Sunday, May 13th, 2007JRENG!
Phew….!!!!
Akhirnya kesampean juga cita2 membuat 1000 review di PROGARCHIVES.
Hari
ini 7 Mei 2007 jam 20:17 telah tercapai reviewku yang ke 1,000 di situs
prog ini …. LEGAAAA…!!! Ahead of schedule (karena targetnya adalah
16 Mei 2007). Ini mengantisipasi kesibukan gw menjelang DragonForce.
Ini review yang ke 1,000 itu …ANGLAGARD "Hybris"
http://www.progarchives.com/Review.asp?id=121066
JRENG!
Salam,
G
Hybris |
1992 |
Review | Album details | All reviews
Review by
Gatot
(Gatot Widayanto)
[Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator]
Posted 9:14:55 AM EST, 5/7/2007
This is my 1000th review posted at May 7, 2007 20:17 Jakarta
Time. ENJOY!!
——————————————————————-
Well crafted composition, flawless performance!
Anglagard was formed as a venture to reinvent music with the basis of early senties
sounds. It started with Tord Lindman and Johan Högberg join forces until this album
“Hybris” was created. As stated in the opening sleeve Introduction: “This music is
built on a very human base … through conflict. It’s created with the thought of each
person’s momentary feelings, with a lot of variations as a starting point.” It’s a
quite impressive introduction even before I listened to the CD.
When I spun the CD at the first time, it caught my attention as my first feeling told
me that this music was definitely created with perfection. Why did I say that? Oh
yes.. I can feel it right from the opening track “Jordrök” (11:10) where the band
performs the tune flawlessly with accurate precision. There are many surprises
throughout the song combining multi instruments like guitars, keyboard / Hammond /
mellotron, dynamic bass lines and powerful drumming. The tempo moves dynamically from
high to low and comes back to high with great melody. What surprises me is that with
this relatively long duration I don’t get any sense of getting bored at all from
intro right to the end.
“Vandringar i Vilsenhet” (11:53) starts mellow with a combination of smooth flutework
and keyboard, augmented beautifully with acoustic guitar and deep bass lines. Oh man
.. the opening melody is really melodic and catchy. It’s damn hard for not
remembering this part because it’s really nice. The music moves into complex
arrangement with great combination of guitar, flute and dazzling drum work. Wow! It’s
really a terrific arrangements! Unlike the opening track which is instrumental, this
one has unique vocal line and it’s so energetic. Listening to this track, I feel like
being dragged ups and downs with great enjoyment of rich textures of the music. The
structure is complex but it does not harm the overall music flow. All of the segments
are connected smoothly with great transition pieces which in most part are augmented
with flute or vocal.
”Ifrån Klarhet Till Klarhet” (8:04) kicks with an ambient style followed with a blast
of music that sounds relatively complex, combining guitar, mellotron, bass lines and
powerful drumming. The song moves into lyrical part through the bridge of mellotron
sound. During this lyrical part the music turns into mellow style with catchy melody.
The non-English lyrical part enriches the music and brings it to the next level. The
slient break combining acoustic guitar and mellotron / keyboard after first lyrical
part is really stunning and enjoyable.
”Kung Bore” (12:57) starts off with a classical guitar work augmented with soft piano
work. It’s quite interesting intro, especially when the music flows into complex part
using Hammond as main rhythm section – reminds me to Keith Emerson of ELP. Like the
other three tracks, this is a wonderful one!
My CD includes a bonus track "Gånglåt från Knapptibble" which was recorded in August
1993 for the English magazine Ptolemaic Terrascope who wanted to release a single to
come with the magazine. It’s another great track even though it’s a bonus track. This
reconfirms the music of Anglagard as a combination of Genesis (expecially the
melody), ELP (especially on how keyboard is played) ,Yes (especially on complex
structure) and Gentle Giant (complex structure and some vocal line).
Conclusion
It’s definitely a masterpiece of prog album. You might reckon that the music
presented in “Hybris” is not truly original in styles because the band combines all
elements of early seventies music into composition. But, I have to admit that the
band has written great composition in this debut album. Highly Recommended!
Keep on proggin’ ..!
Peace on earth and mercy mild – GW
