ASGARD

A great album! Though heavier than previous albums, Asgard again manages to create an mysterious but epic atmosphere in which to tell a heroic story. Recommended for any prog fan who likes instrumental complexity. I will address the tracks one by one.

- "Blue Fire" is a decent opener of the album, and is relatively guitar dominated. The vocals are really nice here, supplying extra melody and an atmospheric air to the music. Also some nice guitar solos can be found. Nice prog track.

- "Red Fire" continues the heavy guitar driven theme and vocal style of the first track, but its tempo is faster and more complex, bordering on prog metal at times, with meandering guitar solos on a background of atmospheric keyboard play. Also the chorus is a little more accessible. Suitable for fans of heavier forms of prog.

- "Ch.I Sigurd" is an introductory track, which introduces the story which will be continued in the next seven tracks. Some keyboards are used as background atmosphere, but there isn't much to say about the music here.

- "Ch.II Dragon's Blood" opens with an acoustic guitar, which reminds me somewhat of Ayreon's style. Definitely a lot softer than the preceding tracks, with a slightly medieval feel in the first part of the song. For the first time in this album, a flute is introduced, which adds to the light atmosphere. The second part continues the musical theme of the first part, but in a heavier style, more like the first two tracks of this album.

- "Ch.III Quid" really kicks off prog greatness in this album. It is the first track which reminds me of the other album of Asgard I know, Arkana. It opens with a long, soft and mostly instrumental intro, slowly building up tension and pressure, with at times the unearthly-sounding meandering keyboard parts I like so much about this band. The instrumental part continues for about 5 minutes, after which a heavier, more epic part with fast vocals starts. A problem with the vocals is that they are sang without any emphasis on syllables of words, and are often badly articulated, which is a shame, as the lyrics add greatly to the mysterious nature of the album. Nevertheless, this is the best track on the album so far, really enjoyable because of the instrumental skill displayed by the band.

- "Ch.IV Drachenfels" is a track with a heroic feel, reminiscent of the Ayreon track Sail Away To Avalon on The Final Experiment (note that, for the rest, this band doesn't sound at all like Ayreon, it's merely a coincidence that I've compared them to Ayreon twice). It is a rather happy, optimistic sounding song. This track also contains some surprising changes in tempo and melody.

- "Ch.V In the Lands of the Dragon of Midgard" starts rather gloomy, with synthesized choruses. A flute enters the music during the intro, played in a wild, improvisatory style which adds a surreal feel together with the low synths, very much like King Crimson does at times. Slow, low vocals, sang in a distressed tone, complete the dark mood. This feel continues for almost the entirety of the song, which is perhaps slightly too long. Nevertheless a fine track.

- "Ch.VI Initiation" takes rather long to get underway, but is a decent track. The instrumental and vocal parts are both nice, though they do not reach the quality of earlier tracks, and the emotional mood of the music is much less pronounced. The instrumental part in the middle is most worth listening to, with all instruments playing complex rhythms and melodies.

- "Ch.VII "I am the udder?"" is a rather noisy track that doesn't add much to the album. It is not bad, but somewhat repetitive, and the vocals can get annoying in this track. It reminds me a little of the boring "I'm the Guy" of Spock's Beard's album Snow (which of course wasn't written yet at the time), because of the vocal style.

- "Ch.VIII The Bathe" is a fully instrumental piano-driven track, improvisatory and progressive. Nice listening, but like the previous two tracks, it lacks the emotional feel of the rest of the album.

- "Memories from Sigurd's Past" is a fast track again with uplifting melodies and fast rhythms. Short and not very noteworthy.

- "Danger! (Sigurd in Love)" is the only track that is clearly neo prog, and reminds very much of the style of Pendragon, with continuous synth organs in the background, and less complex melodies. It reminds me most of the Pendragon track The Last Waltz on The World. Decent track.

- "A lime-leaf was on his back" is, in the first part, sang in the same style as "I am the udder," which isn't a compliment, but the vocals is less predominant in the music, and the music itself is less repetitive, and surprising at times, which makes this a great closing track for this album. It also brings the atmospheric, epic feel back in the music. The keyboard is played in an excellent way in this song, and the solo halfway the song is especially nice. The album is closed with a nice, melodic guitar solo, with a sudden, abrupt end where one would expect a gradual fade-out. I like surprises, it's a major part of what makes prog prog. A great track.

A decent beginning (tracks 1-3), a superb middle part (tracks 4-8), a slightly poorer later part (tracks 9-12) and a great finisher. You won't regret adding this album to your collection.

I like good songs about nature. But it's mostly folk, which, although good style, is different from prog in many ways. I don't want to blame folk here, because I also listen it from time to time, but prog is more, well, progressive. So, to move on, when I heard The Dear Hunter and their nature themed songs, I was pleased. Now I hear something tagged as Neo-prog, but this records has a lot from prog folk inside. The spirit, this nature theme. But in overall it's neo I suppose.

Lyrics are very poetic, music interestingly mysterious. Don't expect death metal guys, this is nature's celebration with everything softer Neo-prog can offer. Muted synthetizers, nothing as strong as on (for example) first Marillion record. Strange how this album came in my mind with second track. 3:25 to be precise.

And yet another feeling of today's 5-star mood came in my mind. There should be something which would be preventing me from giving the highest rating. Every time I'm gave 55555, I feel little bit ashamed (only a very little bit, almost unmeasureable) and feel also need to explain my decision (this, in contrary, is strong).

This album flows extremely easily. But the rest, tracks 3 and more ambient, quiet and not so rock at all. Well, four stars will be just fine for it. Exactly four by my opinion.

Wonderful surprise from Italian band! Album very rare, very touchful and full of emotions. I fall in love after first listening. Maybe somethink about whole music, surely influences of Genesis, dark side of Marillion music(She Chameleon, Incubus, Bitter Suite), almost gothic sounds in few moments. Asgard like Chaneton and Ghiribizzi decided to chose vocal in Fish's vein. But there is no comparison between Asgard and Marillion. Why? The answear is simple, Asgard focused rather on instrumental virtuoso, in their music, where every musician showed great potencial, vocal is only pleasant addition. It is hard to choose the best and the worst song, material on this album is very equal, everythink is perfect and on straight level. If you are well-disposed to Marillion(Fugazi), Like Wendy(Tales From Moonlit Bay),Gazpacho(Night) and appreciate own style, creativity and music based on dark tunes, you must have this album in your progressive collection. Full 5 stars, no weak points, great dose of beautyful music.

Drachenblut is the fifth item of Asgard's constant explorations into the traditions of ancient magic within the realms of musical art in prog rock. After the original line-up's singer andguitarist left the band, you could really suspect that the album after Arkana was destined to retrace the band's steps in pursue of a proper refurbishment of their neo-symphonic vision, since the aforesaid members' inputs were crucial and determining for the band's core sound. Drachenblut took some time to complete given the fact that the definitive line-up changes didn't ultimately gel, but eventually, the remaining members, keyboardist/flutist Alberto Ambrosi and bassist/2nd guitarist Chris Bianchi d'Espinosa, managed to restore the quintet format. The sound production is far from perfect, but that's another issue tha twe won't get into now. New vocalist Ivo Gallo, given his style and tone that are more related to hard rock and Stone Temple Pilots-type grunge, had to bear on his shoulders the burden of carrying the lyrics' messages over a rockier development of Asgard's sound. Hardening the sound of prog was nothing new for Asgard: the excellent concept album Imago Mundi was actually very prog metal- related from the neo-prog shoreline that Asgard had created out of the influences received from Fish- era Marillion, Gabriel-era Genesis and the pastoral factor of vintage Italian symphonic prog. But now the band's style has become a bit darker, even more related to the somber vibe that we can find in IQ's epic moments and teh stamina than we can find in many heavy prog and prog metal bands. The first two tracks are manifestos of the symphonic trend that the band is now headlong for: 'Blue Fire' is a ceremonious mid-tempo rocker, while 'Red Fire' delivers a more frantic rhythmic structure, both finding a comfortable place in the crossroads of heavy prog and Imago Mundi powerfully metallish neo. Gallo's voice and style work well in the energetic passages, but they don't at all in the softer ones. The pastoral first half of 'Dragon's Blood' and the dreamy atmospheres of 'In the Lands of the Dragon of Midgard' are very hard for him to merge well into the whole integral mood. The same goes for the first of the two epics, 'Quid': it is beautifully constructed as in the eerie climaxes one can find in 2Esoteric Poem and Arkana, but the vocalist of the moment is not the right messenger. Of course, he is very efficient in the majestic mid-tempo 'Drachenfels', as well as the other epic 'Initiation' (the album's apex). 'Initiation' states a compact cohesiveness through the various motifs, in a sequence that goes from the mysterious to the solemn, and from there to the bombastic: the pastoral closure is an effective way to complete the idea. I Am the Udder is a short yet catchy rocker that also fits Gallo's style well. The character of Sigurd had been introduced in the spacey brief instrumental tha tis track 3, and now it meets the two melodic rockers 'Memories from Sigurd's Past' and 'Danger!', preceded by the piano solo piece entitled 'The Bathe'. The piano solo is fine, but teh two rockers do not work quite right: they are agile and catchy, but they are in danger of trivialising the Asgard ideology (especially 'Danger!'). Luckily, the last track 'A Time-Leaf Was on His Back' corrects things in pure splendorous fashion: the track's development fits the standard of neo-symphonic at its best, even reprising some motifs from 'Initiation' in its closing climax. Drachenblut is a very good album, but Asgard had proved to be capable of much better things, more productive for the preservation of the prog rock flame through the 90s. This album doesn't represent the real Asgard: Yes could do realyessian music with Moraz instead of Wakeman, Genesis did the same without Gabriel for a while, DT without Moore, etc. Grade: good, at times very good with moments of Asgardish greatness.

Difficult album for sure!...May sound like a joke for a neo-prog band but believe me it's true...This guys are really talented...ASGARD,hailing from a Italy,a country with great tradition to numerous excellent prog bands,combine MARILLION-like neo prog with medieval,folk and acoustic music and the result is outstanding as well as original progressive rock...The main influence is very early MARILLION,not only in the vocals and the great melodic keyboard and guitar lines,but also in the dark,lyrical and poetic atmosphere...Sometimes I think they can get even darker and more poetic than FISH could ever imagine...Superb and amazing ,that is really a very difficult thing to achieve...They remind me also of another more metallish italian band,GARDENWALL,their first two albums were a definition of combined dark/melodic progressive rock/metal...Another band that comes to mind due to the sound of the guitar/keyboard and the complexity is COLLAGE...Not a simple weak track,all tracks are excellent arranged and performed and the most important...This is for lovers of early MARILLION...and they are not a clone...This guys play original MARILLION-influenced music of top notch...You've got to check them out...Highly recommended to all true prog fans!

This was a very good way to make a debut in the world of prog rock music. For their Götterdámmerung album, Italian quintet Asgard brought a refreshing take on the standards of neo-prog: instead of getting their main influence from Genesis and Camel at their respective primers, they went for the darker moods of Trespass-era Genesis with hints to the bucolic side of McDonald- era King Crimson. The similarities to Marillion are superficially defined by the flourishes of the synth solos and Francesco Grosso's Fishian vocal tone, but the band's rocking side was mainly oriented toward melodic hard rock and Gothic rock. Asgard created a particular twist in the European neo-prog that was developing back then in the early 90s. The latin chant 'Antiquum', heavily reminiscent of Romanesque liturgies, kicks off the album with a mysterious solemnity. The final chorale lines give way to the 13+ minute 'Warriors of the Ideal', a very appealing epic piece that finds the band exploring various tempos and motifs while keeping the basic dynamics intact. There is no doubt that the musicians know how to interact in a very solid manner. Later on, 'Mysterion - Sophia' elaborates a consistent grayish atmosphere, built on an elegant use of somber textures in which the dense keyboard layers and the occasional dual acoustic guitars' flourishes act as the main features. This track pretty much anticipates the languid atmospheres that will be noticeable recurrent in their second album Esoteric Poem. Sandwiched between these two tracks is the album's catchiest song: 'Last Flight of the Silver Drakkar'. This song bears a powerful appeal with its moving rhythm structure and flashy melodic lines. The second half of the album, occupied by tracks 5-9, is a continuum that introduces a set of variations to the band's already established statement. Track 5 begins with a brief syncopated rock prelude that opens the door to a reflective piano solo, which in turn lead to track 6, an acoustic guitar solo piece soon joined by the flute. The two 'New Myths' songs (tracks 7 & 8) difer notably: the first one is a pastoral ballad developed from the previous track, while the latter is a mid-tempo rocker (almost martial) that displays a sort of return to track 5's prelude. The city noises that appear during the fade-out set a bridge to the closer, the 11+ minute '...Voices'. This piece combines the epic drive of 'Warriors of the Ideal' with the languid mystery of 'Mysterion - Sophia', and so the final result leads to the biggest demostration of symphonic sophistication in the album. The main flaws of Götterdämmerung are the sound production (the pretty lame organization of the various instruments' sonorities does little justice to the potential power partially evident in the actual playing) and the unfulfilled amalgam of the rhythm section (most of the times it fails to coordinate a pertinently robust foundation for the overall instrumentation). Nonetheless, Asgard's debut album deserves to be labelled as an excellent item of 90s neo-prog. Just like other reviewers before me have noted down, this album reveals the band's peculiar inventiveness despite its specific shortcomings.

ASGARD take their name from Nordic mythology, which is also the subject of their music.And you can tell from the titles of the songs on this album that it's all about folklore.Unless the first song "A Gathering Of Fairies" is about something else(haha).Their sound is similar to MARILLION's,although i was reminded more of GENESIS,especially the synth sounds.There is also a gothic element to their sound as heard at the beginning of both "A Gathering Of Fairies" and "Olaf Stonehand". The vocals are very solemn to open the first song "A Gathering Of Fairies",as acoustic guitar and piano melodies come in.The vocals change as we are treated to some GENESIS sounding synths that pulse as the drums build.Before it's over we get some sad sounding keys and spoken vocals."Wulfstan" is a good song that opens with pounding drums and guitar melodies.The vocals sound like Gabriel, and the synths again sound like GENESIS,so it all sounds wonderful.Things speed up as the melody starts to sound more like SAGA."Olaf Stonehand" opens with solemn vocals again and the atmosphere is dark.The sound builds as the drums and synths come in and the vocals return to normal.Yes it sounds like GENESIS again until 10 minutes in when first reminder of MARILLION has come.The song reverts back to the sound of the intro to end the song."The Mirror Of the King" is slow paced with acoustic guitar and reserved vocals.We hear flute for the first time, and after 6 minutes the tempo picks up as the MARILLION sound comes back.9 minutes in we get some scorching guitar solos and crisp drumming.Nice.The song closes with piano melodies."The Queen Of Ice" reminds me of Hogarth era MARILLION,and there is a good bass solo,and an uplifting vocal melody."The Squirrel" is a fast paced, acoustic guitar instrumental,while the next song "The Breath of a Veiled goddess" ,is a piano instrumental, with a vocal melody part way through.The final song "The Lords of the Mountain" opens with synths shooting off then vocals,followed by flute.Then we get some machine gun drumming with keys before it gets dreamy 4 minutes in, with relaxed vocals,synths and light drums.Then back to the heavier melody."Wulfstan" and "The queen of ice" are the highlights for me,although there are many highlights throughout this record.This was worth the search,and it was quite the search to find what most people feel is ASGARD's best record.I found rating this quite difficult for a number of reasons,but settled on 4 stars,although i feel it's not quite a 4 star record.

It is a pitty this album is unknown for so many prog listeners. Otherwise, I am sure there would be lots of reviews granting the rating it deserves, it means 5 stars. Definitively, this album is a masterpiece of metal related prog rock. Asgard in this album has reached an excellent combination: on one hand, a very well developed gothic atmosphere; and on the other hand, a powerfull instrumental virtuosity. Since the beginning of the first song, we are aware of the eerie world we are landing on. For the atmosphere this album generates seems to become a dark fairy tale. Within its paths we come across with echoes, gossips and wails. Soft chords becomes heavy storms. And the keybord gives the textures that transport us to weird sensations. I don't know why nobody commented a word about Ferrero's drums. I think he reaches the excellence in many moments, especially in Wulfstan.

I think this album is essential. It is one of those albums with passages that make you shiver because you can't stand with such a beauty.

Although this album has it's faults you know the talent is here,and it will blossom fully on their "Arkana" record.They are kind of finding their way on this their first record it would seem. "Antiquum" is a tough opener considering it's this gothic sounding male choir singing throughout.Not a good start really. "Warriors Of The Ideal" reminds me of MARILLION,a combination of the keyboards and vocals i suppose.An uptempo track that's pretty good. "Last Flight Of The Silver Drakkar" opens with a little bombast as pulsating organ follows.I like the deep bass lines as vocals come in. "Mysterion-Sophia" opens with keys and synths as spoken words come in.This is dark and slow moving until after 5 minutes when the tempo picks up.By then it's too late.I like the guitar later though.Not really a fan of this one. "Alone,With My Spiritual Induction" opens with a pulsating beat as the guitar grinds away.Piano takes over for the rest of the song. "Laud(To The God Of High Places)" features acoustic guitar melodies throughout.Flute joins in. "New Myths" is mellow with flute,acoustic guitar and reserved vocals."...Voices" is good with the raw guitar and heavy bass.Vocals are more passionate too. I would recommend this to fans of ASGARD,if only to check out their beginnings.

Well, I'm not sure what happened here, but Asgard are suddenly a primarily heavy metal band! Well, not quite, but much of this puts me in mind of Iron Maiden or similar groups. There are still progressive flourishes, and one song (Serenity - Land Of Green And Flowers) that is quite mellow, but the emphasis is on heavy distorted guitars and double bass drum rhythms. Not quite prog metal, but a bit more interesting than standard heavy metal. The concept of the album itself is still interesting and on par with the previous two albums in terms of interesting lyrical content. But the music has become somewhat less interesting for me and I rarely listen to this album. Still, not bad by any means, but a departure from their previous two excellent album for sure. A big dissapointment to me after the masterpiece "Arkana". Probably two and a half stars, but I give them the extra half star for effort.