A TIME OF DAY

This was my introduction to Anekdoten. Luckily for me, cause it's a great introduction to the band, not as harsh and provocative as, for example, Nucleus, this is an album which is easy to get into but at the same time really progressive. That doesn't mean that the tracks aren't growing the more you listen, the case is closer to the opposite. In the beginning the songs can seem a little bit too tame, but the more you listen, the more you see the beuty and details in the music. The band has an organic sound with philosophic and somewhat dark, abstract lyrics, and you get the feeling that every instrument in the music is living and perfectly fells into place, like all the bioforms in a large, lush forest. Strange comparation? Maybe... Liljeströms Vocals aren't the main attraction on this album, but there are no big problems with them and they fits good with the mood of the music. The introduction is great, The Great Unknown opens with a memorable guitar riff, followed by a powerful mellotron. It's really a feeling of adventure and new upcoming experiences in this track. The next one, 30 Pieces, is a more up-tempo and more unsecure. It's about chrysis in relationships, but not in the sound you are used to hear those kind of songs. The song features some nice organ during the verse and some touching flute solos. King Oblivion is more mystic in nature. The instruments are more stripped down and rely much on a hypnotysing accoustic guitar, the characteristic loud bass of Anekdoten and also some background synths that grows in strenght towards the end of the song. A Sky About To Rain begins very calm and harmonic with only an accoustic guitar and the lyrics present from the start. It starts to grow more powerful, and then explodes into a giant mellotron riff. The song just getting better and better, and when a mighty black sabbath-like guitar riff appears I am completely satisfied. A touch of psykadelia in this this song. It fades into Every Step I Take which I prefer to see as an endning of the previous song, cause it doesn't have enaugh meat on its bones to be considered an own song and works more like a bridge between the previous and the next track. It's still a nice add to the album, and you once again feel that every instrument is placed perfectly in comparation to each other. Stardust and Sand is a nice, mellow track. Even this one has a touch of psykadelia. Next song is In for A Ride, which returns to the more up-tempo style of the first track. It is somewhat weaker, but still a worthy song. Prince of the Ocean is a slower, melancholic track, even if it's not as silent as Stardust and Sand, and feels like a farewell from the album which fits very well as the last song. A very good and solid record, but it would have needed some more touch of drama and suspence to be called a masterpiece. The first half of the album is almost perfect, the second half is somewhat weaker.