HYBRIS

ANGLAGARD's Hybris for me is not the masterpiece others have claimed it to be precisely because it goes too deep into that territory that marks the border between the land of complexity and the land of incoherence, between great musicianship and overindulgence.

As others have said, the band takes inspiration in the prog classics of the 70's but the sound is modern, it doesn't really feel like retro. There's a good amount of jazz in this symphonic progressive rock project, and some psychedelia too. While the band's influences are clear, the music never sounds derivative or unoriginal. i can give them that.

The musicians in ANGLAGARD had lots of talent. Rarely have I heard such a display of skills in such a short-lived group. This fact is made even clearer by the outstanding production of the album: all the instruments sound crystal clear.

Is in the composition part of the deal when Hybris comes out short in my view. The 4 long songs in these collection all contain excellent bits and sections of music, but they all feel like a random collage of ideas more than like the result of a long process of creating songs. For the sake of progresiveness, the bands fails to create coherent short epics that flow from beginning to end and that reveal themselves in their magic after repeated listens. No matter how many times I listen to this album, I still can't find the logic that is so evident just after a few session with songs by GENESIS ("Musical Box") or even YES.

Among the bands that helped reignite tghe passion for symphonic prog in Sweden, ANGLAGARD has a special place, but I feel their best works were still ahead of them. Sadly, we may never find out what they could've accomplished. The talent, as made evident in the best track in the album, the opener, was there, and in truck loads.