ANEKDOTEN

Anekdoten returns after a long absence to gift us with Until All the Ghosts Are Gone, another rock solid entry into the 'heavy prog' sub-genre, and heavy it is, abounding with massive bass and guitar riffing, and pounding, tension-filled songs. However, it's also filled with beauty and nuance through artfully arranged songs and many- layered sounds of mellotron and organ.

"Shooting Star" wastes no time in showing us why Anekdoten remains one of the more powerful, creative, and heavy sounding bands around - even after 8 years of hiatus. The two guitarists lay down an amazing amount of sound, crushing the listener during the song's numerous fortissimo moments while also showing their restraint during other moments. The use of negative space and ambiance has always been a strong suit for the band, and here it's juxtaposed to the massive riffing - and not to mention unexpectedly aggressive soloing from Barker - very well indeed. It's an optimistic song that takes you to places dark and bright in 10 jam-packed minutes of thick, heavy, wonderful music; off to a great start, though things get much darker thematically from here on out.

"Get Out Alive" sadly takes a while to get going, weighed down by vocals that plod along until electrified by a terrific instrumental break that concludes with a sense of strong sense of drifting melancholy. A busy song, even though slow tempo, and probably the weakest on the album.

The wonderful "If It All Comes Down to You" shows the band's ability to craft very likable and approachable music using a blend of sensitively incorporated mellotron, vibes, and guitar tones. It's about as pop-friendly song that the band has ever produced, though its complex instrumentation and prog-feel probably won't convince people who aren't use to listening to music this dense. Still, its a great moment of lightness in the mix, even though it's basically a break-up song, and the contributions by Theo Travis' flute soloing is a great touch.

"Writing on the Wall" continues in achingly melancholic form, being excellently composed for dramatic and emotive effect, especially the four minutes of instrumental work that concludes the song. This leads me to album's conclusion, "Our Days Are Numbered," a powerful instrumental song with amazing tension and performances throughout. Once again, when Anekdoten is at their best, they absolutely nail it. This may be one of their best songs, and it certainly carries an 'end of the world' feel to it's rousing climax.

While not a perfect album, Until All the Ghosts Are Gone does a tremendous amount of things exceptionally well. This doesn't surprise me, given my ratings of past Anekdoten albums; the band rises above in so many ways, but there's just something illusive that keeps the music from resonating with me. It's this lack of emotional connection that I've decided to keep my rating at a 4-star. You will not be disappointed with Until All the Ghosts Are Gone, but if you're like me, you probably won't connect or remember much of it specifically afterwards. A great album for fans of loud, heavy, artistic rock.

Songwriting: 4 - Instrumental Performances: 5 - Lyrics/Vocals: 3 - Style/Emotion/Replay: 4

For a while I'd written off Anekdoten as also-rans of the Scandinavian prog scene - it's not that I didn't like their sound, From Within is a pretty good album, it's just that the sound didn't really vary enough from album to album (or, for that matter, from song to song) to really keep me interested.

Well, after taking a good long break to recharge their creative batteries I'm pleased to say that Anekdoten have pulled off the difficult task of extensively revising their sound whilst still creating something that is true to their personality and history. There's still plenty of Crimso-fied technical noodling afoot, but this time it's enhanced by a sense of playfulness and whimsy reminiscent less of 1970s prog and more of the 1960s psychedelic forerunners of the prog scene. Organ gets to play as much as, if not more than, the Mellotron which was previously the band's trademark, the vocals actually occasionally seem hopeful or cheerful, and there's a sense of dynamism and spontaneity which I haven't previously heard in Anekdoten's music, but which is extremely welcome. Welcome back, gang.

A couple of years back, I purchased "Nucleus", Anekdoten's second album I believe. I found I really liked some tracks and always thought to someday grab another album. Then one day in 2015, I saw that the band had a new album out and I decided to grab it and check it out.

The opening track "Shooting Star" is quite a surprise. It sounds a lot like some recent Opeth and in fact, a couple of times that I've had this song and some from Opeth's "Pale Communion" on a mixed playlist and on shuffle, I actually mistook this song for an Opeth song at first. It's an excellent opening to the album and I can't help but notice the smoother and warmer sound compared to the sometimes crushing and pulverizing sounds on "Nucleus". This song has become a favourite off the album.

The final track too is a memorable one. "Our Days are Numbered" is an instrumental with more heavy guitar but a lighter, atmospheric part with some saxophone before coming to a dramatic finale. It's an instrumental with moods and tension. Great work!

Unfortunately, I keep fading out during the four songs in between. I understand that this is a top rated album of 2015 and I even read a raving review praising this album to high heaven. But I'm afraid that I can't find and become absorbed by the genius music that many others are claiming in there. There's supposed to be this totally far out guitar solo packed with sweet emotion on "Get Out Alive". Yes, the song really comes out strong in the second half and builds nicely in the first. But I am not totally blown away. "If It All Comes Down to You" includes some lovely flute and Mellotron. It should be really marvellous and listening to it now on my iPhone without headphones it is indeed very beautiful.

But I've tried to listen to this album through a few times and my attention always wanders. What's wrong? It sounds like it should be a great album to me. Is it Nicklas Barker's vocals, which aren't exactly the strongest in progland? No, I can get along with the vocals, especially since there's so much instrumental work. What is it then?

Well, I listened on the way home tonight and I think I know what's missing. I heard someone say recently, "Have you ever had an album ruined for you for one thing and that one thing only?" My impression is that this album isn't mixed very well. I find the sound murky and thick. Turning up the volume usually helps in these cases but it still seems to me that the middle songs especially just don't sound as clear as they should. Listening to recent albums by Opeth, Pandora Snail, or Nice Beaver for example, the music is just so warm and rich in sound. That's lacking here and I think that's why my mind keeps losing focus and I don't know what I've just listened to.

Yeah, I'm listening one more time to "Writing On the Wall" now without the ear buds in and the music sounds better like this actually. I can see why some people rate the music of this album so high. As for me, I would really like to have heard a clearer, cleaner production of the sound here.

Surely a great album that happens to be suffering a bit from the mixed sound of the music. Four stars knocked down to three.

My ALL-TIME Greatest #7

As much as I love their past albums it's fair to highlight the present work in recognition of the maturity attained. What was already so good acquires in these songs, specially on the composing department, an extra dimension of quality: the original way they sound and makes them so immediately recognizable is fortunately untouched but the music is more elaborate and 'finished'.

Global Appraisal

What amazes me most since the first time I heard them, and gets now even more nuanced, is the uniqueness of the mix they achieve of characteristic affinities with 'traditional prog' and a modern and very personal 'progression', exploring on their own account new ways of expression.

I get immediately captivated right from the first notes by this singular architecture: the bass soloing upfront in the mix, the ever present Mellotron giving profundity and grandiosity, the peculiar voice of Nicklas carrying a dramatic accentuation to the lyrics, the rhythm guitar and drums marking the odd time in a kind of balancing move - what a treat, really, this band is!

Goodies

I have to praise the tasteful and criterious use of acoustical instruments (namely guitar, vibes, flute, sax & cello) that far from getting submerged in the dense sea by the opposite punctuate the surface with interesting tasteful surprises that heighten the mystery of the journey, making it more the most rewarding.

"Untill All The Ghosts Are Gone", the sixth album from Swedish rockers Anekdoten seems to have stirred up quite a fuss around here. Now, Anekdoten is a band that I am only mildy familiar with. Having only listened to their "From Within" album, and some tracks from "Gravity". I was intrigued to see that one of their albums had managed to rate higher than "From Within". So having thoroughly enjoyed "From Within" in the past, I decided to give it a listen and see if all the hype is really true.

It doesn't take long to realize that this was a much different beast than the Anekdoten I was familiar with. "Until" features the Keyboards and Mellotron much more than the Guitar and Drum focused music I had previously heard in "From Within". As a result, their sound is much fuller than in the past; and with the occasional use of Acoustic Guitar, it has a much lighter sound as well. However, that's not to say that they have dropped their trademark dark and heavy sound, but rather expanded upon it. Focusing less on the heaviness has allotted them a lot more free space in writing than in the past, and they take full advantage of it here. Now sounding less like a full-force hard-prog band, and more towards a dark hard-symphonic sound.

Their new musical direction shines brightly in each track, and it's clear that all the time away from the band has really gotten their creativity flowing again. There is never a moment where I feel the urge to press the skip button, considering how much of a shame it would be to miss even a second of this!

"Until" is a breath of fresh air in an era dominated by Swilson and company. Anekdoten demonstrates to us their mastery of moody heavy-prog, as well as revealing the more beautiful side of their music to us; and for that, they have earned a fan in me.

Since the early 90's, Swedish band Anekdoten have delivered a series of melancholic Mellotron fuelled heavy prog albums, and their latest release `Until All the Ghosts Are Gone' is only their sixth studio album in 22 years. The band have never released anything close to a poor album, each one a honed progression and refinement of the previous work, always growing in confidence every single time. While `Ghosts' doesn't herald a massive change in direction, it moves on from some of the Alt/Indie rock experiments of previous discs `Gravity' and `A Time of Day' for something of a return to the earlier brooding lengthier moments of the albums before those (without the outright heavy King Crimson aping of their early days), and it quickly reveals to be their most dense, mature and even subtle release to date.

Opener `Shooting Star' instantly pleases with heavy gutsy guitar bursts, slinking bass, Hammond organ ripples and that searing Mellotron that's the Anekdoten trademark, and despite being loaded with lengthy instrumental passages, it features an early killer chorus that roars like a chest-beating anthem. Some of the twisting riffing guitar moments over eerie electronics remind of the recent Opeth albums (unsurprising to find an ex-member of that band Per Wiberg guesting here on organ), and the opening electronic drone is the hint of a direction that the band should explore more often in the future! A plodding heaviness pervades `Get Out Alive', and Anna Sofi Dahlberg's softly groaning cello in the finale is sophisticated and grand without being overwrought. `It Comes Down To You' is an instant Anekdoten classic, as surprisingly romantic and warm as the band can get with gorgeous chiming guitars, a calming vocal from Nicklas Barker with a wistful lyric and a reflective flute solo from guest Theo Travis, it's sure to become a favourite amongst fans.

Founding member, bass player and original main vocalist Jan Erik Liljestrom takes his sole lead vocal on `Writing on the Wall', driven by weeping sombre Mellotron but with a few scorching devilish twists to make it truly infernal and overwhelming! Cello, flute and 'Tron weave together throughout the gloomy title track, and instrumental `Our Days Are Numbered' is a thrilling finale. Mellotron alternatively swoons with orchestral-like flair and slices like a razor, the bass rattles and pulses with purpose, guitars wail histrionically, Peter Nordin's snappy drumming holds down dark grooves and Gustav Nygren's unhinged saxophone blares with dirty debauched unease.

As always, the vinyl length format the band adopts means the album stays at a reasonable length and never allows any filler moments to sneak in, just six extended atmospheric pieces and not a wasted second. The status Anekdoten now hold these days in progressive rock circles is well deserved, and it's also refreshing to find a band that takes their time with each work, not putting out product every single year to fill a gap, instead patiently releasing superior musical statements that make for yet another superb addition to their small but precious catalogue of work.

`Until All The Ghosts Are Gone' is a crowning achievement for Anekdoten, one of the absolute standout progressive rock albums of 2015, and sure to feature highly in the end of year Top Ten lists.

Five stars.

Now this is a Progressive Rock album! Great mix of styles and moods and lots of instrumental choices and stylings that are fairly fresh for Anekdoten. I guesss the eight years off tending to other projects served Nicklas, Ana Sofia, Jan Erik and Peter well. 1. "Shooting Star" (10:10) opens deceptively quietly for what is to follow. A hard driving album with some organ and lead guitar stylings that remind me of URIAH HEEP-era Ken Hensley and BLUE OYSTER CULT's "Buck Dharma" Roeser and even a little of TRAFFIC-era Steve Winwood and NEKTAR's Roye Albrighton. Definitely one of the best long-play prog songs of the year and one of the best songs overall! Depsite the awesome mood and key changes, this song maintains its hard driving force throughout the entire ten minutes. I can never believe how quickly this song plays! Just awesome energy! (10/10)

2. "Get Out Alive" (7:32) opens with what I call their signature "oppressive heavy-happiness." While driving us into despair and doom Anekdoten's music somehow maintains an upbeat,"happy" feel to it. The band just can't go full-out doomer. Devil may care, they must love the music too much. The vocals and doomer lyrics are somehow quite fitting for the music and yet I love how they feel secondary to the heavy (and light--from the sixth minute on) instrumental parts. Nice Frippertronics in the fifth minute. That one note Nicklas bends up and then down is so cool! Awesome song. (10/10)

3. "If It All Comes Down to You" (5:52) Melllotron drenched with CRHIS REA-like lead guitar riffs playing tantalizingly over the top, this song is just gorgeous and very jazzy--almost in MOTORPSYCHO or THE AMAZING territory. The constant background 'tron and Theo Travis flute play are awesome but it's Nicklas's delicate guitar play and the background tuned percussion (xylophone?) that make this song for me. (10/10)

4. "Writing on the Wall" (9:03) opens with another familiar Anekdoten opening and settles into a structure not unlike their masterpiece "Hole"--that is, until the lead vocal establishes its surprisingly light melody. An especially heavy subject matter is treated rather lightly, almost happily, for sure lackadaisically as if in complete resignation to the belief that there is absolutely nothing to be done. Perhaps the weakest song on the album, it is still a pretty good song. Some nice drum and guitar work in the middle over Ana Sofia's awesome chord progression of the Mellotron foundation. The delicate guitar and synth "raindrops" interlude section is very KING CRIMSON-esque before bursting back into a two minute, two-part outro with some awesome REINE FISKE-like guitar soloing. (8/10)

5. "Until All the Ghosts Are Gone" (5:07) opens with full band, some nice guitar work, and more of Theo Travis' awesome flute (and saxophone) work. The vocal feels and sounds a bit too much like older Anekdoten, but the acoustic and electronic interplay is awesome throughout. between acoustic and electric guitars, mellow drum play, multiple keyboards and even some harmonized vocals. Acoustic and electric guitars, mellow drum play, multiple keyboards, beautiful flute play, and even some harmonized vocals for the repetition of the catchy final lyric, "Praying that it will work out ok" is really nice. (9/10)

6. "Our Days Are Numbered" (8:36) is an instrumental with a familiar Anekdoten feel, driving acoustic drums with bass, electric guitar and keyboards weaving with and around each other in and out of synchrony and from collective play of the melody to weaving into harmony structures. Return of Nicklas' new "Buck Dharma" guitar play preempts a brief polyphonic section before all music drops away for bass and echoed sax notes and riffs float around the background. The band gradually builds back its volume and full presence until at 6:28 Theo Travis' saxophone screeches out some awesome notes to signal the beginning of a section in which there is a kind of gradual whole band climb until at 8:15 it all comes to a head for the finale. Another gem! (9/10)

I don't feel as positively about any previous Anekdoten studio album as I do about this one. Until All the Ghosts Are Gone deserves five stars all the way. A masterpiece of progressive rock music that is definitely a candidate for Album of the Year!

This is ANEKDOTEN's sixth studio album but the first in eight years. Mind you there have been four little Anekdotens born during this time as life goes on. Man this one has really blown me away, I honestly wasn't expecting something so great as their last one "A Time Of Day" was my least favourite studio album up to that point. There seems to be a theme on this one and "death" is the subject matter. The cover art is a photo of an old, haunted looking house that they found on an island near Stockholm.

It's pretty cool that they have a few guests helping out including Australian Marty Wilson- Piper who played guitar in THE CHURCH. I asked on another site how the heck he ended up on this album being a half a world away when Mattias Olsson(ANGLAGARD) told me that Marty now lives in Stockholm, Sweden. Theo Travis also guests here and he became aware of this band when Steven Wilson played him the album "From Within", as a result Theo knew he had to work with these guys. We also get ex-OPETH keyboardist Per Wiberg guesting on one track. He's an old friend of the band who actually played Grand piano on "Vemod" then again later on a song from "Chapters". Lastly sax player Gustev Nygren guests on the final tune.

"Shooting Stars" is without a doubt one of the best openers that this band have come up with. They actually brought Per Wiberg in because Nicklas wanted there to be an organ/guitar duel in it and man does it work well. I don't remember hearng such powerful organ runs on an ANEKDOTEN album before. How good is this song when it kicks into gear. Powerful to say the least. The organ runs rough-shod at 1 1/2 minutes followed by mellotron. Not worthy! It's the guitar's turn after 2 minutes ripping it up in a big way. A calm follows as we get vocals for the first time. "Hold your head up high" is such an appealing line during the chorus. Some heavy [&*!#] 4 1/2 minutes in after the vocals have stopped. That organ/guitar duel begins before 5 1/2 minutes as they trade solos and check out the drumming. It's so majestic 6 1/2 minutes in, then the vocals follow as it settles back. "Get Out Alive" has such a powerful and majestic intro as the vocals arrive around a minute. I'm so moved after 2 1/2 minutes then we get an instrumental break after 3 minutes as the guitar grinds away. Vocals are back before 5 minutes then Anna adds violin, what!? Okay she played cello on the debut but I wasn't expecting this. Another instrumental break follows.

"If It All Comes Down To You" features Theo Travis on flute and man what a gorgeous track. Even the guitar and keyboards are so beautiful here, not to mention the mellotron. It's like being in this sublime dream really. Vocals around a minute and I really like the vocal line on the chorus that is repeated like an echo. A nice guitar solo signals a wondrous instrumental section with some amazing flute. "Writing On The Wall" is mellotron heaven early on and check out the guitar before 1 1/2 minutes. It calms down with vocals before 2 minutes and I love the liquid sounding keys 3 minutes in. It turns instrumental after 4 1/2 minutes. Another calm before 7 minutes then it kicks in fairly heavily. So good! A mellotron storm ends it. "Until All The Ghosts Are Gone" features both Wilson-Piper and Travis. Nicklas is in fine form vocally here and a fuller sound arrives before 2 minutes. There's so much depth and the flute is such a nice touch. A beautiful track with some excellent guitar 3 1/2 minutes in. It ends with a stunning instrumental. "Our Days Are Numbered" starts off with mellotron and sparse sounds but when it turns powerful it sounds incredible with the mellotron, bass and more. Another calm follows then at 5 minutes it starts to build with sax and an urgent rhythm. It becomes so intense with the sax blasting holes in the soundscape.

Man this was well worth the wait. My oldest daughter bought me this from I-Tunes but I need to get a physical copy. It's early yet but this is already a top three ANEKDOTEN album for me, and that's saying something as they are a top three band in my world.

Until All The Ghosts Are Gone is the long awaited album from Anekdoten, a wait of eight years since the excellent A Time Of Day. Fortunately it's been worth the wait as it's as good as and sometimes better than most of their back catalogue. Some achievement when you consider the illustrious company it keeps.

It's clearly recognisably Anekdoten with no great leaps in style from the last few albums which is fine by me. The haunting and melancholic melodies, the dynamic rhythm section and of course the ever present Mellotron. There is little in the way of Nucleus style dissonant riffs here but the album is bookended by some particularly powerful moments. Six tracks in total, the middle four to a large extent occupying their mellower and melodic ground though Writing On The Wall does have a powerful guitar driven ending and Get Out Alive packs quite a punch. The opener, Shooting Star and instrumental Our Days Are Numbered show the heavier side of the band, the latter being the nearest we get to the earlier style of the band with some powerfully oppressive and brooding guitar and keyboard work with guest Theo Travis adding some welcome sax flourishes. Shooting Star is perhaps most satisfying of all, the lull of the verse after a particularly bombastic opening being particularly effective before things take off again for an exhilarating instrumental workout with Per Wilberg (ex-Opeth and another guest) adding some strong Hammond playing.

As a whole Until All The Ghosts Are Gone is a stunning achievement, an album that can sit proudly alongside anything in the bands past. Fans who prefer the first two albums may have wished for more along the lines of Our Days Are Numbered but with no weak tracks I can't fault it. I'd be very surprised if this is not in the top ten albums of the year here on PA, so highly regarded is this great band.

Eight years after their last, excellent album, this would class as a come-back for some bands. But Anekdoten have never been prolific, and it was previously usual for their cult following to have to wait four years between albums. Their guitarist, vocalist, and driving force Nicklas Barker has been engaged recently in the wonderful side-project My Brother The Wind, and that certainly has been a consolation for the silence from Anekdoten.

But they are back with a vengeance, no question! Probably like many, I was expecting some intrusion of MBTW-like psychedelia in their sound - instead the jaw-dropping opener Shooting Star is replete with influence from Steven Wilson and Opeth; imagine a confluence of Luminol, Raider II and Slither, taken up a gear with a positive energy I did not think Anekdoten possessed. The second track Get Out Alive starts like a familiar middle-period Anekdoten number, but then again takes off like a torrent. Also in this vein is the final track Our Days Are Numbered. These tracks rank among the best this great band have ever produced. Like a few other reviewers, I feel Anekdoten's only weakness is the competent but characterless voice of Nicklas Barker, and I always feel uneasy on first hearing a track that sounds like he will over-vocalise. One or two of the other tracks fell into this category initially, but in every case the music takes over and I really don't have a criticism in the end. The deep concept behind the lyrics I detect to be religious, sometimes euphoric, sometimes despairing and I'm not qualified to judge the overall picture. But this is a masterpiece, no question.

Verdict: recommended to Steven Wilson fans. HIGHLY recommended.