ANGELOS

"Designed for dreaming, relaxing and comforting the soul" says the PA profile about the four outputs from this project. Gerald Krampl, the sole man in Agnus Dei, lost his wife Hilde and the other part of Agnus Dei which originally was a duo of Hilde and Gerald. His tribute to his wife and a mark of loss is this album.

Hence, it is very difficult to really review this album. But nobody else has done it and this album is overdue a review.

The music on Angelos, as on the other Agnus Dei albums, consists of piano with some keyboards supporting the piano driven melodies. The difference on Angelos is that the music is very dark at times. The darker side of the piano music drives the music. Large parts of this album is clearly a sort of a funeral dirge. Other parts is clearly meant to soothe and comfort everyone who loved Hilde, Gerald himself included.

Angelos is a moving piece of music. No doubts about that. It is proof that you can actually express your grief into good music. I personally would not have chosen solely piano to express my sorrows. But I understand where Gerald comes from. I understand where he was heading with this album. Angelos is his soul ripped open and poured into this album.

Angelos is also a good album with a lot of moods and tones which really means something. It reminds me a lot about a stripped down version of Alan Gowen's final piece of music before he passed away. As a funeral dirge, Angelos works perfectly. I actually like Angelos and it does comfort my soul too. And I neither know Gerald and I did not know Hilde either. But this album is good. Sometimes less is more.

3 stars