HINTERLAND

Finally it's there: the moment of the reviewing of Hinterland by Wobbler. I was reluctant to this one for quite a while because this album never gave me much pleasure. After a few spins shortly after the purchase I put it away for a long time, disappointed as I was in the result. Because I expected a lot of wonderful music after the high praise it got from several sources. It also had a high average rating on our site and then this as a result. All I heard was some dark gloomy music with a lot of dissonants and hardly any melody throughout the album.

So every time I thought it was time for the review I hesitated and kept thinking: could I be wrong ? I was sure for a long time that in the end I was going to give it 2 stars. But I also noticed I would be just about the only one ! What is going on here ? Am I not judging or leastening right, am I not giving them a fair chance ? This morning I did the final listening for the whole album and I have to say, a small miracle was happening because it didn't seem that bad after all. Maybe this time because of my low expectations. Anyway, it started with the long epical title track and I have to admit, this is not a bad effort at all. It's quite a good epic at least where the composition is concerned and that is always an important element in my judgement. I did actually hear (some) melody and after the careful listening for almost half an hour I come to the conclusion that this track deserves just about 3,75 stars. The trouble is the other two tracks. I think I heard them most times of the three long ones because they had been on my mp3 for a while and Hinterland never had been because of the length. But both Rubato Industry and Clair Obscur put me off for a long time, the first one due to the first minutes full of dissonant tones and no meldoy at all. Later on this track gets a bit better but never becomes a great one to me. Clair Obscur is more or less in between Hinterland and Rubato Industry where the style is concerned.

All in all Rubato Industry will get 2,25 stars and Clair Obscur 3 so in the end it appears a 3 star effort after all. But Wobbler will never be my band because of their approach of music. Lucky for them they have quite a lot of fans anyway so their music is appreciated by many and they don't depend on me for that. Recommended for lovers of dark symphonic prog that is somewhat in the vein of Anglagard and Sinkadus.