ANEKDOTEN

King Crimson comparisons abound for Anekdoten's debut album Vemod and rather than presenting a dissenting view, I will just join the choir on this one.

Just about everything familiar, alien, loved or loathed from (primarily) ca.-Red era King Crimson can be found on Vemod: keen dynamic awareness and exploitation of the massive power in jumping from the calm to the chaotic in wild abandon, throwing out more minimal atmospheric focus for powerful, musically busy aggression by the flick of a switch along the way. The similarities do of course not end there, but continue all the way down to the sound of the instruments. Along the way you will recognize the unstable, neurotic melodies and slight atonality and chromaticism of Fripp (coupled with the equally familiar angular, uncompromising riffs), the muscular, distorted and dominant bass lines, soaring Mellotron and a mix of forceful and dexterous drumming. Even the moods come across as rehashed: twitchy, neurotic melancholy, sad reflectiveness, a ray of wondrous light in the midst of aching sorrow. Plain old fun if you're into the brooding or dark side of stuff! Take any of those feelings, transport it by a dense, ominous buildup of slightly malevolent sounds and let it explode in a cathartic eruption of frustrated, crashing instrumental thunder.

But it isn't identical. Out goes the violin, in comes the cello. Not the most dramatic of changes, but it definitely brings more fullness to the soundscape. However, the major differences, as I see them, are two. Or possibly three. Because when peaking in intensity, there's a streak of more hard-hitting aggression and speed to the music, making it feel more contemporary metal or heavy rock. It's just a stronger crossover into that world than King Crimson ever tried to accomplish; more riff-driven and direct, rawer and more "honestly" energetic, if that makes sense to you. Some of the grittier parts are sometimes spectacularly heavy, but also rather fast and rhythmically bouncy. Funnily enough, the other main difference I would identify is found in the very opposite end of the music. When in mellower territories, there's a streak of vulnerability and sensitivity to both the clean, precise vocal lines (sometimes even lacking in power) and melodies I don't really associate with King Crimson, something that could be described (perhaps wrongly) as a touch of a more ethereal, introverted indie/alternative-influence. The addition of piano fleshes out these bits and serves as an excellent indicator of the third difference: a will to enrich the arrangements, a search for more melodious fullness ( even mildness) and a decidedly more organic and agile approach to the compositions than the mid-70s-King Crimson, who despite even improvisation can come across as a bit formal and disciplined (perhaps even academical) to this reviewer.

I thoroughly enjoy Vemod, but think the band paid just a bit to much tribute to their apparent heroes here. There is individuality to be sure, but it's a bit underdeveloped and raw at this point, and the band would go on to make more interesting albums later. And sadly, things tend to stay a bit same-old-same-old as well, with songs morphing into each other at a bit too high a rate. This is made even more obvious due to the similarity of mood throughout the album, causing just a bit of listening-fatigue.

A nice addition, a good debut, but far from essential.

3 stars.

//LinusW

Anekdoten's album refines the approach of Vemod, taking the King Crimson-inspired style of that album and amping up the heavy, at points almost grungy guitar riffs. It's an intoxicating mix which at its best threatens to beat the 1990s King Crimson at their own game, but once again it doesn't quite hold up over the course of the album; the tracks begin to blend together and my attention invariably begins to drift at about the halfway point. Though they do manage to do slightly better at judging when to throw in a quieter section to keep things varied, the different quiet and loud sections all begin to sound like each other after a while. OK if you're addicted to Red-era King Crimson, but I'd rather just listen to Red again.

Anekdoten's debut album finds them already mastering their chosen style - a style heavily inspired by King Crimson from around the period of Red, with a combination of raging guitar, a jazzy rhythm section and melancholic Mellotron creating an air of nostalgia and yearning on each track. In fact, this is my major criticism of the album - each track seems devoted to exploring precisely the same sort of emotional mood in precisely the same way. The lack of variation eventually begins to wear on me over the course of the album, though King Crimson fans who seriously miss the Red era will doubtless find it endlessly entertaining.

Vemod First of all, this album is not heavy prog. Could hardly get further away from Rush ' Porcupine ' The Mars Volta, and still play prog. Rock. The better choice would be Neo-Eclectic Prog

Vemod means 'a mood of sentimental sadness', as in your lost love is still haunting your soul, and you feel this sweet sadness thinking about good things passed, never to come back. Cant help wonder if it (at least in part) was reffering to the music from days long passed. There is no doubt that Anekdoten was inspired by 70's music, even though they allways sounds like Anekdoten. Vemod was the debut, and this is often where you can expect to find the the closest link to the main inspirators, in this case King Crimson, the link is there, but not enough to make this a Neo-Crims recording. The studio sound on Vemod is a bit 'rough' compared to the sound they would develop later, maby due to the equipment getting better, maby a choice, but it sounds a bit unpolished. The album is good, as a collecters choice, its a must, beeing the debut, one of the 90's prog classics. As a Anekdoten album however, its may not be the best choice to get this one first, its seems like they havent yet fully found there own unik style, that would later make them one of the best prog acts, to make a neo prog. with roots in 70's Crimson, as opposed to those many bands with roots closer to 70's Yes/Genesis. The highlight is the last track Wheel (7:52), (on some editions followed by an 'extra':Sad Rain) A supreeme old style 'Crimson'ish' track, makes my ears flip with pleasure. Sad Rain, as mentioned an edition on some versions, is a 10 min.+ Epic, very closely related to Tracks like 'Epitaph', not very original, but still great. Vemod is a very nice album, that I truely love, but its not the masterpiece. All in all the album deserves a small 4 stars, It's essential, its excellent, I just miss something, that i cant put my fingers on.

This is a GREAT prog album!

The album is GREAT all the way through, and my absolute farorite Anekdoten album. No bad tracks here, though some are more interesting than others.

Anekdoten sound is very distinctive, with lots & lots of Mellotron and dramatic singing.

It starts strong with "Monoilt" and "Richochet", in my book the best songs on the album. These two tracks are one of Anekdotens finest moments ever in my book.

"What Should But Did Not Die" is a drone song very similar to "The End" by The Doors. Great song. "SW4" is another beautyful drone song with backwards vocal effects.

"Gravity" hits you strong with hard Mellotron all over the place. Epic ending.

"The Games We Play" and "Seljak" are great, but not my favorites.

A great album, and an essential album in the collection.

4,5 stars.

We can call it a prog legacy

This album may be the real best album rather thatn their official best album "Chapters" because of the song selections, what are missing in this album are famous Karelia and Nucleus only which they played in this concert recorded to this album. Yes, I was there when they recorded the play. Therefore, I can guarantee that the recording and mixing tech is so nice that the sound on the album is exactly duplicating what was heard in the concert hall. The technicians did excellent job.

As you know, Anekdoten was inspired by King Crimson and thus their music is very close to that of KC naturally. But the point is that their music is more emotional and they are on the side of KC's Epitaph, Exiles, and Starless. This means that Anekdoten has enormous talent in composition. Storm of mellotron is only a tool for them to enhance their melodic aspect. I love their music simply because the melody is unforgettably beautiful.

Sweden seemed to be the home of 'retro-prog' during the early 1990s, with this album and the debut of Anglagard. This is the only Anekdoten album I have heard so far and it really does sound a lot like King Crimson. Not just the Wetton-era, which is the most obvious influence, but I can hear traces of Crimson's first three albums as well. The bass is very Wetton sounding, while the Mellotron recalls the first three KC albums. You can hear influence from other groups from time to time (Vemod is taken from a song by Swedish group Kultivator, for example). I don't like the lead vocals too much, but they are done in perfect English with no hint of an accent.

After a symphonic opening section, "Karelia" switches to a Red-era rocker. The guitar playing later gets more jazzy. I like the mix of Mellotron, jazzy drumming and distorted bass over halfway. A very good instrumental which is probably my favourite song on the album. "The Old Man And The Sea" sounds like something from the first two KC albums when the vocals start. Gets more Red-era sounding later. Very Fripp-like guitar near the end. You can listen to "Where Solitude Remains" here on PA. This song seems a bit more folky during the verses. Gets jazzier in the middle, followed by some brief start/stop playing. Very symphonic towards the end.

"Thought In Absence" is a laid-back jazzy song with brushes on the snare drum. The vocals here sound very similar to Greg Lake when he was in KC. Nice electric piano sound over halfway. "The Flow" starts with some weird sounds. After a minute of that goes into a mix of Red-era KC and '80s-era KC. The majority of the song is heavy symphonic prog. Later more Red-era again with some cool cello playing. Gets very '80s KC sounding near the end. "Longing" is an instrumental focused on acoustic guitar and cello. Nice song but nothing outstanding.

"Wheel" is one of the better songs. There is a melody here which gets reprised throughout the song which sounds like one of the songs on Lizard (can't remember which one exactly). I like the mix of male and female vocals here. Some '80s KC interlocking guitars at one point. Great trumpet solo. This song sounds like a cross between Lizard and Red with just the right amount of Discipline. A cool effect at the very end when the sound changes to something recorded on a cheap tape recorder. "Sad Rain" is a bonus track and the longest song. Basically it sounds like a more upbeat "In The Court Of The Crimson King"(the song).

This is alright but I might enjoy Nucleus more. It's more highly regarded and supposedly more original sounding. To me this sounds more like a homage to '70s Crimson than most Neo-Prog sounds like a homage to Gabriel-era Genesis. My favourite Scandinavian prog groups generally have their own unique sound. Good but not essential, 3 stars.

ANEKDOTEN from Sweden. FROM WITHIN was my first taste of this remarkable musical unit back when I noticed the LP was available at the turn of the century. It knocked my block off (and I'm still looking for it....) with the overt Mellotron use, grungey Rickenbacker bass, distinctive lead guitaring and inspired drumming. Many of the longer cuts are composed in such a way where thunderous rhythms pound away for a while and then give way to rather beautifully serene passages. These polar opposites are arranged in a sensible way, never haphazard as some heavy/soft contrasts can be. And that's not saying the album plays through in a 'samey' fashion - there's plenty of differences from song to song. A slight KING CRIMSON flavour is evident here (though not as strong as their debut album VEMOD) and maybe some hints at PINK FLOYD, but these guys (and gal) are so much more. Sure they have a 'retro' sound but their knack at song-writing is very much here and now and there's plenty of originality in their approach. Amongst all the nostalgia and melancholia, there's still a sense of vibrancy, refreshment and modernity. Not a second of unnecessary 'filler' throughout its course - hats off to the track 'Hole' - just over 11 minutes of pure perfection with fellow Swede Simon Nordberg (from the equally wonderful 'LANDBERK') contributing some touching Hammond organ during the deep and spacious mid-section. Absolutely essential listening - as is most of their output. And I have to say that the guy in the balloon on the cover looks a lot like bassist Jan-Erik ??

From Within. Sometimes Anekdoten is refered to as a very King Crimson inspired band. Crimson was all over the place, with albums weaved together from very diffrent musical colours. This is a lot more consistent in the soundpicture/style chosen. But You might say it sounds a bit like "something" from "RED". Heavy Prog, again dosent fit very well the album, this is not heavy like Rush / Porcupine, most of the time its very far from Heavy. Anyway this is unik, the vocals, the cello, the constant bass pounding, dosent sound like anything but Anekdoten. Its prog. rock at its very best, mellotronish, symphonic, melodic, yet very harsh at times, and it is music that makes me want to close my eyes, and just flow deeper into inner space. Dont get me wrong, this is absolutely not easy listning nor is it Ambient, but still its demanding and rewarding in a way, that lying down with closed eyes, is perfect. The guitars does sometimes split the air, and crack the wallpaper, in the power sections of the songs, but not as in "guitar solo", in a way that fits, and keep the flow. From Within is not as hard and experimental as Nucleus was, its more dreamy, could be easily recommended as the Album, for those not into heavy music, looking for something very much its own, but still in the line of what Crimson did in 73-75 period.

Another true masterpiece of 90's prog. from this strong Swedish outfit.

Where the debut Vemod, was like a twig,., holding on to a 70's branch of the Tree of Prog., Anekdoten have now matured a lot, and become its own very strong branch. With a very own sound and style troughout the album. The style have now become heavier and darker, and they deserve more the placement within Heavy Prog, even though i still doubt i would have put them there myself. I find the music to be more related to Electric than Heavy, especialy important that people that love King Crimson/Yes/Gentle Gain, should not be scared by the label. This is far from what I would traditionally consider Heavy Rock.

The album is a perfect patchwork of hard / soft - slow / fast - melodic / chaotic. No wonder Anekdoten became a strong name in Japan, this is raw fish with sugar and wasabi.

Everything on this album, falls perfectly together, in my taste. I love albums with old fasion strings, in this case Violin & Cello, that on top of the Mellotron, gives the "classic" feel to the album, that is so essentialy prog. The Bass very pounding in a Wetton like style, together with the stunning drumming, building a powerfull rythm section very varried and skillfully arranged. Guitars from smooth soft picklings to screaming leads, keys in every thinkable structure and sound. The vocal is admittedly not the best in the world, but it works fine in this textures.

I could only consider this a true masterpiece of 90's Prog. rock scene. But if you are particular about not liking too heavy influence in Your prog., You should consider bypassing this album, and get the next one (From Within) instead.