BEHIND THE SUN

11 months since the last album, and Motorpsycho have no intention of resting on their laurels.

Behind The Sun can be described as a continuation of Still Life With Eggplant, only with a bigger focus on songwriting and arrangements. Behind The Sun contains 9 songs in 60 mins, and has a lot of stylistic diversity (maybe a little too much, actually)

The record starts off in awesome fashion with Cloudwalker and Ghost. The former having a really great lead riff accompanied by subtle mellotron. There's also an awesome bridge in there and a nice instrumental buildup to the last chorus. Ghost is a very mellow pastoral thingy, where a mellotron/string arrangement carry the song along with a shivery vocal delivery from Bent Sæther.

Individually, On A Plate is a good track. But its straightforward cock-rockish sound doesn't really fit this album, IMO. The Promise is an uptempo rocker, but it's way more catchy, complex and with a purpose. Great guitar-solo too. Kvæstor (incl. Where Greyhounds Dare) is an instrumental jam. It reminds me a bit of Whip That Ghost from Let Them Eat Cake (2000), but this one's way heavier and more complex (even the subtle Iron Maiden reference makes sense). The robotic strings in this one adds a nice touch.

Hell, Part 4-6 is the longest one (12 mins) on this album. Starts off with Part 4: Traitor which is kinda mellow and sets the main theme for this track. Part 5: The Tapestry is extremely atmospheric and consists of a mellotron/acoustic guitar fog. Then a beautiful melody rises from the fog before we return to the Traitor part briefly. Then Part 6: Swiss Cheese Mountain starts with a heavy, slightly Eastern-sounding jam that culminates in Prog Heaven. Great track!

Then another ballad, Entropy. This one is simply stunning! Hans Magnus Ryan takes lead vocals on this one (blistering guitar-solo as well), and Fiske really makes his presence felt here with some great guitar lines near the end. Beautiful melody, beautiful arrangement, and my personal favorite on here!

The Magic & The Wonder (A Love Theme) is a bit similar to The Promise in being an uptempo rocker. But this one has some great melodic guitar themes in it as well. Unfortunately for me, the album ends in chaotic fashion with Hell, Part 7: Victim Of Rock. This one is quite over the top, coupling the Hallucifuge-riff from Little Lucid Moments with the Hell, part 1-3 from the Eggplant. Then it turns really psychedelic as some kind of flanger- effect is thrown on, and everything/everyone sounds as if they're playing in a snowstorm. It has potential to grow (it's already started!), but I think of it as a subpar way to end this album.

So I give this one 4 stars, but it's actually closer to approx. 4,4 or something. I did give 4 stars to the previous one as well, but that one's closer to like 3,7 or 3,8. A couple minor misfires robs the top rating, but this is still a fantastic album with lots of progressive elements that could satisfy a lot of people on here. Recommended listening!