THE ALL IS ONE

The Scandinavian veterans (with all kinds of excellent gusts) are back with their annual contribution.

1. "The All Is One" (8:50) a lyrics-oriented song until the instrumental section begins around 4:35. Amazing use of Mellotron in that section. (17.25/20)

2. "The Same Old Rock (One Must Imagine Sisyphus Happy)" (5:18) acoustic guitar! Steven Wilson-like vocal! Then it kicks into old rock territory (The Who!) It's a Who song with some Steve Howe-like guitar lead playing beneath it all! (8.5/10)

3. "The Magpie" (5:36) (8.5/10)

4. "Delusion (The Reign of Humbug)" (2:44) acoustic guitar and solo voce alone in a reverb chamber. Gorgeous. (5/5)

- N.O.X. ∞ (42:38) : 5. "Circles Around the Sun, Pt. 1" (9:11) nice, gentle keys before raw, acoustic violin joins in. At 1:50 whole band kicks in, creating a deep, ULVER-like groove. Heavily distorted almost cinematic multi-voiced vocals enter at 3:40, singing an eerie melody that creates a pretty but Danny Elfman-like environment. This is f*king brilliant! Aside from the little interlude songs, by far and away my favorite song on the album. (19.5/20) 6. "Ouroboros (Strange Loop)" (8:23) a repetitious jam song that feels as if it was created out of Chris Squire's "Schindleria Præmaturus." (17.25/20) 7. "Ascension" (3:37) spacey PINK FLOYD-ish instrumental with soft weave of stringed insturmesnts --before the violin goes crazy in the second half. Brilliant and beautiful! (10/10) 8. "Night of Pan" (15:33) nice display of discipline even if the format was used on Death-Defying Unicorn. (27/30) 9. "Circles Around the Sun, Pt. 2" (5:54) Motorspycho being both motor and psycho. It's okay. An unfortunate ending to an otherwise stunning 42-minute epic. (8.25/10) - 10. "A Little Light" (2:19) two acoustic guitars--until the freaky, horn-like end. . Thank you, Allman Brothers and David Gilmour. (4.5/5)

11. "Dreams of Fancy" (9:37) combining riffs that are familiar from old classic rock songs as well as the band's own repertoire, they create a kind of hodge-podge LED ZEPPELIN song. (Think "The Rain Song.") Poor lyrics, poor singing, nice melody in the chorus. Letting Reine Fiske loose in the instrumental sections is the highlight. (17/20)

12. "The Dowser" (2:46) strummed electrified guitars with two vocalists singing in harmony. Nice. Beautiful chorus. Almost CSN&Y. (4.75/5)

13. "Like Chrome" (5:03) heavy BEATLES-like start before turning pure XTC! In the middle when we hit the instrumental section, it gets heavier before returning to the Andy Partridge stuff. Interesting! (8.5/10)

Total Time 84:51

85 minutes is a long sitting. I was prepared to dislike or be bored by this album (How much new and fresh music can a band come up with over 31 years and 24 studio albums?), but the sound is so good, the band so tight (especially the drums!), and the instrumental choices and weaves still so creative and fresh that one can't help but like it. Some of the songs here are more oriented toward the lyrics than I'm used to hearing from Motorpsycho; when I listen to Motorpsycho it's not the lyrics I'm listening to but the music. The sound engineering on this album is fine, the music polished if starting to sound somewhat repetitive of stuff they've done previously.

B+/4.5 stars; a near-masterpiece of progressive rock music. Despite containing some absolutely stunning pieces, there is too much music being rehashed here.

MOTORPSYCHO is a Norwegian group known personally in 2010 so yesterday given their journey from the very beginning of the 90's. A stoner sound, pop, fruity, a bit crazy, in short eclectic. Progressive rock, alternative, folk, hard, jazzy, country to be honest, even punk and grunge at their beginnings, in short, unclassifiable. Progressive rock, psychedelic music and independent and alternative rock remaining the backbone; to note a progressive rock opera concept in 2012 and a collaboration with the Swedish guitarist Reine FISKE (LANDBERK, PAATOS). MOTORPSYCHO was originally formed by Bent SÆTHER, his progressive rock influences started to kick in and have remained present with sprawling psychedelic directions at this point. "The All is One" on a somewhat retro-progressive stoner tune, ZEPPELIN LED drums and rhythm, rock and psychedelic composition, all in the length with a certain monotony, YES-like sounds bring a little divine memory, the title thus changing atmosphere; final at the OLDFIELD, it starts heavy. "The Same Old Rock" starts off on progressive retro rock and its chorus with drenched percussions, the voice remaining very sharp, a little flute, the riff which denotes until the Howe solo and return to heavy rock, proto- heavy but catchy rock. "The Magpie" and its psyche atmosphere at the start then a journey on a rhythmic piece in two tones, bass forward to give the direction to take; we are far from prog; we get closer to the scent of MONSTER MAGNET, the incursions of ZAPPA, then those of AL DI MEOLA for a few moments; the guitar solo seems to come from a vintage 70s recording, astonishing; prog no longer has its raison d'etre, it's the notes that send us to it. "Delusion" calms the heat with a kitsch acoustic interlude and notes that resonate in our minds, we got a long way off there. So far after a few reads as is often the case with MOTORPSYCHO, the record is performing well. "N.O.X" in 5 variations for the astral journey of nearly 3/4 hours, timeless from "Circles Around the Sun, Pt. 1" departure with bells and violins then the dark atmosphere of the Scandinavian reliefs can be guessed; the progression is there, the wind instruments make the tempo mysterious, indecisive, latent as on the long pieces of THE DOORS, frightening, rising in strident maelstrom with a jazzy edge; you have to be used to uncompromising prog under penalty of astonishment, the violins duel for a symphonic finale of the most beautiful effect. "Ouroboros" arrives and changes the rhythm to train us on "Fragile" or certain arpeggios from "Close to the Edge"; a guitar now from the solo heard on "Encore" by TANGERINE DREAM, then YES again with a vintage organ, a long variation which can lead to a trance, be careful! A hellish groove, a paroxysmal rise, that's good with "Ascension" coming in and bringing some order to the scattered notes, a soaring interlude and a second part that goes up to an always moderate tempo. "Night of Pan" and that hypnotic tune, ah that tune, Brian ENO, Philip GLASS, an tune that chills your back, we're in the movie "Reality" from which you can't get out; a Dantesque symphonic post-rock canon, serious and soft choirs, it literally takes off around 7 minutes as with the long tirades of Klaus SCHULZE, drums come to lend a hand, the mellotron is not to be outdone, the trance surrounds you , you are no longer yourself !! I didn't want to write this column because I had listened to it a number of times before I was asked and I didn't want to explain the experiences of sound dematerialization that I had lived, too late I admit it here, I am lost in this maelstrom, it's just giant to believe that the end of the year will give even more musical pearls; a 10 for this dangerous piece, oh so pleasantly dangerous. A complex sequence that you have to listen to, a rise, a crescendo, a peak, what am I saying, Cyrano's nose, immense I tell you! The end starts with TANGERINE DREAM-style sequences like on "Sorcerer"; "Circles Around the Sun Pt.2" as the finale is even more apocalyptic; we find there the musical frenzy of CARAVAN or ANEKDOTEN, a little THE ENID in their extreme climbs, a little MAGMA there, it explodes, it squirts, it is moving, it's crazy, ecstasy is the. "N.O.X" was born out of a musical commission written for the St. Olav Festival performance. "A Little Light" comes out of this major piece with the damn acoustic interlude, two guitars that take the opportunity to tune your stereo on your speakers; finale with a mysterious synth that puts you back on the alert to announce "Dreams of Fancy" and a more rock track here, cool groove that is easier to access too; the less high-pitched voice can recall a little RUSH at times, we are still on an old sound however with bold and archaic riff; the violin solos quickly joined by those of the guitars gives an interesting scale. "The Dowser" for a little acoustic rhyme that rests again, to listen as "Horizons" after "Supper's Ready"! Finally comes "Like Chrome" and a bold title, the different voice drawing on that of Joe JACKSON and giving a more alternative rock sound; the instrumental part is detached from the verse-chorus with a heavy and heady sound to the ZEPPELIN LED as at the beginning. MOTORPSYCHO struck a big blow with the end of the Gullvåg trilogy which will have combed the covers of the albums; texts on alchemy, Tarot and painting, texts on social, political and environmental conflicts with which we live; in 30 years one would have thought that their genre and musical style had exhausted it; we clearly have here a vintage sound of the 70's boosted by the recording of the years 2030, a dantesque, bestial, spatial sound where time seems to stand still; a work beyond music, beautiful musical rock art. In short, and it's a pleasure a must of its kind.

Motorpsycho's new album, The All Is One, concludes the so called "Gullvag trilogy" of albums inspired by the art of painter Hakon Gullvag that the band started in 2017 with The Tower and continued with 2019's The Crucible. Sporting on its cover another beautiful Gullvag's painting, The All Is One might just be best progressive rock album released in 2020. Whether you agree with this statement or not, one thing is for certain: it is simply amazing how, after 30 years of career and more than 20 full-length albums, these three Norwegians are still able to create music that feels fresh and innovative and is of such a high quality. This is truly a testament to their creativity and ability as musicians that I have a deep respect for.

So what makes The All Is One so good, you ask? Two things stand out for me: how deliciously varied its 9 compositions are, and how they are perfectly balanced between creative discipline and looseness. These characteristics put the record at the top of the trio of albums that form the Gullvag trilogy, in my opinion. The songs on this album have the same playful, proggy exploratory spirit of The Tower, but with the structure and discipline that one can find on The Crucible, giving us the best of both worlds.

There are three types of songs on The All Is One, reflecting three distinct phases in the recording process. A first bulk of songs were recorded in September 2019 at the Black Box Studio in France. These recording sessions see the Motorpsycho trio (Bent Saether - lead vocals, bass, guitar; Hans Magnus Ryan - lead guitar, vocals; Tomas Jarmyr - drums) join forces with long-time collaborator guitarist Reine Fiske (Landberk, Paatos). The songs that came out from these sessions are of medium length (between 5 and 8 minutes), follow a somewhat traditional structure and are fairly vocal-driven, without too many extended instrumental jams or detours, making them relatively easy to assimilate. Nevertheless, the music has a strong classic prog flavour, somewhat reminiscent of the US modern school of progressive rock (bands like Echolyn, but also Spock's Beard and Neal Morse come to mind). Classic acts like Yes and King Crimson are also obvious influences, but they are re-interpreted through a modern lens that avoids the music sounding derivative. Among these tracks, the title-track and "The Magpie" stand out, containing some of the best and most memorable hooks of the album. "Dreams of Fancy" is also notable, with its classic rock feel (Led Zeppelin come to mind). "The Same Old Rock" and "Like Chrome" are instead perhaps a tad less inspired and come across a bit as run-of-the-mill prog.

Then we have the 42-minute suite "N.O.X". This piece, recorded in November 2019 at the Oceans Sound studio in Norway, was originally written as performance music that Motorpsycho were commissioned to play at 2019 St. Olav Festival as part of its celebration of the art of Hakon Gullvag. The suite was composed with the help of two other instrumentalists, Lars Horntveth of Jaga Jazzist (saxophones and clarinet) and Ola Kvernberg of Steamdome (violin). It is an amazing piece of music, and my personal highlight from the album. It comes in 5 separate parts (each a separate track on the album) that are interconnected and tied together by recurring motifs and common rhythm patterns. The music has a strong experimental and avant-garde feel, and encompasses a range of different styles, from krautrock and space rock (Hawkwind), to classic prog, to Canterbury prog (Caravan come to mind on the opening bars of "Circles Around the Sun pt I"), to psychedelia. The suite has everything one would ask for from a prog masterpiece: it is complex and shapeshifting while never losing focus or tension, it is filled with sublime arrangements and exceptional playing, it is groovy like hell (listen to "Ouroboros") and it has strong dynamics, moving between hard-hitting, almost punkish pieces ("Circles Around the Sun pt II") and dreamy, reverb-drenched meditative moments (the Pink Floydian "Ascension"). Vocals appear sparsely throughout the suite, and are often processed and used more as an additional complementary instrument than as lead instrument. Drummer Tomas Jarmyr puts in a monstrous performance on this piece, but the playing of everyone involved is truly dazzling and a joy to listen to. What impressed me the most, though, is the sense of structure and discipline that transpires from the music. Motorpsycho have often indulged in extended instrumental jams on previous albums. While captivating and engrossing, I often found these jamming pieces a bit too loose, structureless and repetitive, which made it difficult to continuously retain my attention. "N.O.X" is incredibly tight and well-organized, each part flowing naturally - almost necessarily - into the next one, in a way that brings to mind classical music more than jazz or psychedelic improvs. This perfect balance between discipline and looseness is what makes "N.O.X", and the album in general, such a fantastic piece of music for me.

Finally, the album contains three shorter songs, recorded at various times between 2018 and 2019 in Trondheim (Norway). These are acoustic pieces for guitar and voice (and synths sometimes) that are strategically placed on the album to separate the "N.O.X" suite from the other tracks. I am particularly fond of "Delusion", a beautiful, delicate piece that reminds me of the more pastoral moments of early King Crimson. "A Little Light" is also endearing, with its simple guitar line, especially after the musical mayhem of the closing parts of "N.O.X".

Overall, the alternation between acoustic pieces, more regular prog rock songs, and the tour-de-force of "N.O.X" gives the album a sense of progression and moving-forward that is truly captivating and naturally invites the repeated listens that are necessary to properly assimilate the sheer amount of creativity that is contained in the 80+ minutes of music on this double-album. Nevertheless, The All Is One is also a record that is very easy to instantly like as it contains enough hooks and moments of brilliance to entrance the listener on the first run. It is also notable that the doom/stoner/heavy prog influences (e.g., Black Sabbath) that Motorpsycho are known for are not so strong on this album. Overall, there is more prog and less fuzz on The All Is One, which may make it an even more palatable release for the prog community.

In short, The All Is One is an amazing piece of work. It contains some of the proggiest and most inventive pieces of music Motorpsycho have come up with in a long time. The experimental, largely instrumental suite "N.O.X.", alone, would have made for an incredible album, but perhaps it stands out even more with the addition of the other acoustic and more standard vocal-driven tracks to balance the record. Despite some less inspired moment ("The Sme Old Rock", "The Dowser", "Like Chrome"), it is without doubt one of the best progressive rock albums I have listened to this year and it is highly recommended to anyone with an interest in prog.

[Originally posted on www.progarchives.com]

Well, the last of Motorpsycho's Gullvåg trilogy comes about in 2020's string of excellent prog rock releases, from Wobbler's Dwellers Of The Deep, to Haken's (badly timed) Virus. I gotta say, even in the wake of some amazing releases from that year, Motorpsycho managed to excel greatly with this album, to the point where it ended off their trilogy with a bang, and dare I say set a standard for future releases the band goes about.

I heard a reviewer by the name of Notes Review describe this record as 3 albums in one, and I'd actually agree with that statement, though I think it is actually 2 EPs and 1 album rolled into one complete package, kinda like how Angels And Daemons At Play did its album structure, but here it feels a bit more of a conceptual idea, rather than a release structure idea. However, what is found here on each half of this record is some fantastic prog rock. The first four tracks of The All Is One, The Same Old Rock, The Magpie, and Delusion are a lot more psychedelic in tone and structure, similar to their stuff from the 2000s, but with a lot more polish that I really enjoy. I love the arrangements and jams they express with these songs, with each having these nuggets of great moments that just makes me eat these songs up. My favorite has to be Magpie, especially that intro that starts quiet then bursts into this very wild and fun jam that I really love, and gives me some serious Hawkwind vibes, and it just goes off from there in a magnificent montage of sound. All of these tracks are great, and I think showcase a level of brilliance within the band that they've been hitting ever since Little Lucid Moments.

Now, for the half that is like a full album, and that is the N.O.X. suite. Oh boy do I just love this song. Each of the Gullvåg trilogy has these songs that I just can't get enough of. Ship Of Fools from The Tower, Psychotzar from The Crucible, and here, in The All Is One, it is the entirety of this 40+ minute jam. Where the first half of this record was a lot more rooted in psych rock, this is the band taking what worked from The Death Defying Unicorn, and making it entirely new with a higher focus on jamming and space rock inflections. There are several things I can talk about in this one song. For starters I just love the build and drive this song has and goes through. The momentum never quite stops, and, while on occasion it does slow down, it always rises back up in inventive ways, so that it never becomes boring. It is like a range of mountains, as each moment you climb and fall then climb again, and I think this mountainous journey represents this giant suite of music quite amazingly. I also just love the second half of this with the parts of Night Of Pan and Circles Around The Sun Part 2. Night Of Pan is this rising shift in sound and energy throughout 15 minutes, and it is honestly quite grueling, but in a way that it just works out in the band's favor, because afterwards you just get punched in the gut with Circles Around The Sun Part 2, which I think is one of the best endings in any Motorpsycho epic, reprising the first part, and just creating this wild, freakshow session that caps this whole thing off so masterfully in my opinion. Lastly, what I love about this suite is that in the last part, the lyrics make mention of The Tower, the first part in the Gullvåg trilogy, and that reference honestly just heightens this song's enjoyment for me ten fold. Just those little things can make an already amazing song into a legendary one. I think if there is one reason why you should listen to this record, it is definitely N.O.X. as it is such a great song of prog rock proportions.

The last half is similar to the first, with songs taking a psychedelic twist in the prog sphere, but I do notice that half of them are a bit more quiet compared to the first four songs, which I think gives it a unique flavor. Pretty much what my praises for the first half can be directly attributed to here as well.

It must be really hard to be Motorpsycho and never miss when you make prog rock. Not only have they made a very inventive string of albums that are all masterpieces, but set an example of how to effectively, and masterfully combine psychedelic and space rock structures and jams to your progressive rock music that, on a few occasions, I'd say put Pink Floyd or Nektar or Hawkwind to shame. You know the drill, listen to The All Is One as it is a fantastic album in every which way.

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.