THE ALL IS ONE

I have to say I am a fan of the so-called Gullvag trilogy that started with 2017's "The Tower" followed by 2019's "The Crucible" my favourite then this one "The All Is The One" from 2020 that like "The Tower" is about an 85 minute double album. Gullvag is an artist and his works grace these album covers and his work partly inspired the lyrics and music of these three records.

Of the three albums I find this one to be the most adventerous. And it includes over 42 minutes of this suite called "N.O.X." with the first half of it ending disc one and the final half starting disc two. It would have seemd more logical to have it on one disc and the rest on the other but I think they knew that this is the highlight of this recording so lets split it between the two discs. And I do find the music other than "N.O.X" to not be as consistent but it's all good of course.

Some "Death Defying Unicorn" like moments where they drift along early on the first "N.O.X" track called "Circles Around The Sun Pt. 1" but man the violin on here is insane when things turn powerful. Great sound 6 1/2 minutes in when the vocals step aside. And how about that repetitious groove on the second instalment called "Ouroboros" then ending disc one with "Ascension" a FLOYD-like piece. The highlight though might be the first track of disc 2 called "Night Of Pan" continuing with the "N.O.X" suite. I mean it starts out bringing MAGMA to mind when they get locked in a groove like here. I actually felt this way back on the album "Here Be Monsters" with that last track "Big Black Dog". "Circles Around The Sun Pt. 2" ends the suite again a powerful groove here but faster.

There's so much amazing music here along with some not so great stuff but overall a very strong album. I rank this with "Here Be Monsters" and "Ancient Astronauts" as all being so close that I have them all tied for my fifth favourite MOTORPSYCHO record right now. In the liner notes they say "Thanks to: The Psycho's Auxiliary Reine Fiske, Lars Horntveth and Ola Kvernerg for their input into this music- it wouldn't have been this without you guys, we thank you and salute your selfless musicianship as profoundly as we appreciate your friendship!". One of my favourites from 2020.