AFTERGLOW

Listening to Wobbler--and others of this writing style--often reminds me of interactions with my dog: just calm down! For example, in Imperial Winter White, they only settle into their first extended--and by extended, I mean over a minute--groove around the 10 minute mark. Then they layer on the flute and keys, and it's wonderful. Unfortunately, it's only fleeting, and then we return to the aggressive/delicate rollercoaster. The dynamic changes are most effective when they're unpredictable, but this strategy is used so often that abrupt changes become the norm.

As noted by others, these are long songs, but they could easily have been chopped into different songs. Like a worm, you can chop it in half and both halves do just fine. You can't do this to the best prog and get away with it. I like the vintage instruments--particularly the mellotron, flutes, and guitar parts (both heavy and light), but the quality of sounds, and not the music, is the only think keeping my attention.

So, is 33 minutes a good or bad thing? If it means more focused than Hinterland, then yes! But it's not more focused, so it seems only lesser by comparison. This is not bad prog, but it just feels more like bonus material. If you like Anglagard and Anekdoten--with perhaps some Gryphon sprinkled in--then you should have at least some Wobbler. I recommend Hinterland over this, and view having both as perhaps unnecessary.