BURIED ALIVE

I actually steered clear of Anglagard and groups like them for a long time because their music has so frequently been characterized as "dark and brooding". On this more affordable and accessible "farewell concert" recorded in 1994 in Los Angeles, I was surprised to find a lot of beautiful mellotron and flute passages (ala early Genesis) permeating their music, punctuated by bombastic angular outbreaks of polyphonic virtuosity (reminiscent of King Crimson and Yes). To me, their overall sound comes closest to Cathedral's "Stained Glass Stories". The vocals are sung in Swedish - not the group's best feature - but they only show up sporadically in a few songs, so no big deal. Other than the flute, there really is not much dominant soloing; instead, the group relies on a strong interplay among all instruments. The heavy Chris Squire-like bass is a real treat, and the drums are excellent. Unfortunately, some of the keyboard passages are mixed rather quietly here - I found the first four minutes of this cd almost tiresome.

I like this album, as uneven as it is in spots. You get all four songs from their studio debut "Hybris", plus three from the follow-up "Epilog". Probably not as clean as the studio versions, but well-done nevertheless. (Honestly, their live album from 18 years later is much better!)

Ideally, I like my prog a bit more on the melodic side, and with more vocal harmonies. But this is a very good complement to that style of prog, and proves very exciting in places; doesn't strike me as all that "dark and brooding" either! It was probably very fresh sounding when the band first came out in the early 90's. There have been many, many bands both past and present with comparable playing and songwriting skills. But I have no trouble recommending this album as a worthy addition to your prog collection.