HYBRIS

I consider this to be one of the most overrated albums according this website, as I'm reminded of something that was written in the CD notebook. The band wrote something along the lines of "We do not seek to make music that sounds stable or has a consistent direction," and therein lies the problem.

I can understand why prog rock fans love this album, though. It appears to offer everything that fans of bands like Yes and Genesis want - long tracks with vocals spread out between extended instrumental sections, with acoustic guitars, flute, odd time signatures, and various keyboards padding out a sound like walking through a forest at night. But except in rare moments, particularly in the third song, it just doesn't work for me.

From my perspective this doesn't hold up to multiple listens. Once again, the third track is the main exception here, which seems to capture the spirit of the band by starting out with goofy fanfare music that gets interrupted loudly by a jagged-rhythmed attack that doesn't overstay as a song, but the low-points on this album will be heard when you are subjected to the lyrics or slogging through the melotron bits that sound overly dramatic and have no pay-off, especially in the second and fourth tracks.

This can be fun to play a fantasy-themed video game with this as background music, but it does itself in by moving all over the place and never really satisfying with any of its short-lived themes. It's not a terrible album, but compared to the rave reviews, I'm not convinced.

The bonus 5th track is actually fantastic, and the highlight of the disk, but unfortunately the new version in the second album does not do the original recording justice, so definitely stay around for Gånglåt Från Knapptibble. In any case, as far as 1993 albums go, this isn't my pick. Peace.

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