MORILD

Aves is not an easy listning, at least at first spin, but the band manage to come with a pleasent symphonic prog release remind me a lot of Camel meets The Flower Kings and others and aswell have same attitude and atmosphere as previous album, also some folk moments remind me of Kerrs Pink. The music is warm, elaborated , smells of mid to late '70s , well presented with some very nice passages, maybe sometimes to mellow for my taste but not bad at all. Lots of instrumental passages, 2 of the pieces are clocking above 20 min each. Flute is very well integrated in the melancholical sound, quite typical for scandinavian bands. The keyboards and specialy the guitar have an important role here and combined with warm voice of John Anders Troset this album is ok, good no doubt.

Avesd is not an exceptional album by any means but features nice and enjoyble symphonic prog that can be tolerated by any prog rock listner. A bright star in Norway prog scene from today, realy curious how will sound the third release, if there will be one in the near future. 3 stars, a fairly good album with some ok and pleasent moments overall.

It can't get any closer to the fundamentals of Classic Prog than this.Eight tracks, five of which clock at over 10 minutes long with the three-part ''The slave ship'' approaching the 30-min. mark!Soundwise Morild appear to be heavily influenced by the classic groups of the 70's, most notably GENESIS, CAMEL, YES, KAIPA and URIAH HEEP, as a result they come close to other North-European bands like compatriots THE WINDMILL or the Dutch LEAP DAY.A mix of old and modern techniques provides a great instrumental depth and the long arrangements give plenty of chances for elaborate melodies, vintage-inspired orchestrations, injections of folky underlines but also some beautiful complex textures.Knowing that, you can expect plenty of different segments in the same track, a fair amount of delicate flute work and a great balance between the nostalgic sound of the Hammond organ and the powerful flights of the synthesizers.Harsichord, church organ samplers and piano are also included among Bakken's instrumental variety as well as some elegant acoustic soundscapes.The impressive melodies and the emotional guitar solos have a taste of some Neo Prog bands like GALLEON or ELEGANT SIMPLICITY, but the bulk of this release is pretty much 70's-oriented.There are no evident flaws in here, except maybe the usual lack of a personal character or some pale vocal moments, otherwise this is some well-composed Symphonic Rock album with endless, varied atmospheres along the lines of the 70's bands.

Sometimes it's better to release one CD over a double edition.This is not the case here.Too much good material to be left out, comprising of lengthy, symphonic-oriented tracks with interesting structures.Strongly recommended...3.5 stars.

Strong, emotional lead vocals and epic length, multiple-themed compositions of the symphonic progressive rock variety with the organ as the key instrument are what Morild provides on their second album "Aves", with at least a foot and a half firmly placed in the 70's as far as style and expression is concerned. Those with a sensible set of ears for vocals might want to approach this one with a bit of caution, but otherwise this is a production that should be a nice fit for those who tend to enjoy music described as retro-oriented symphonic progressive rock, especially those amongst them who also enjoy bands like Uriah Heep from the same era.

Morild is an old style symphonic band with long and varied compositions played with sacred keyboards, wonderful flute, joking bass, drums and guitar. The record has just six tracks but is has a wide length. If you listen you'll directly get the greatness in the first song "The Patient Fisher" where the bass, flute and vocals are the best ingredients. The albums highlight is though "Wildflower" a long and intriguing piece which shows a lot of the band's posibilities. I would say that track is wonderful and totally great. "Labour day" has excellent instrument playing and a huge melody. "Waiting for the Ferry, Par 1 & 2" doesn't make me disappointed either. Morild has, really, almost everything to make the best progressive rock and this could have been a masterpiece if....

the vocals hadn't been false. The vocalist has a strong, emotional and handsome voice, but it disturbs me on many places that he sings out of tune. A big part of the music is instrumental so the problem isn't morbid. I have just another little problem: Why do they have the songs "Time river" and "Frost gloves" on the record. These tracks are bad! With its problems this record still is fantastic and less than four stars would be a crime. The stars aren't so strong but they're there.

All tracks: "Wildflower" (10/10), "The Patient Fisher" (8/10), "Labour day"(8/10), "Waiting for the Ferry"(8/10), "Time river"(4/10), "Frost Gloves"(4/10)= 3,5 = 4

So, when I got home I started looking through my files and realised that I must have been sent this to review by a friend of mine, so had no information on the band. That got me searching the internet, and a short while later I was sat there quite amazed, as this isn't a reissue at all, but instead is a brand new piece of work from Norway. I honestly thought that this is from the period, as if ever a group was using Ken Hensley as a starting point then this is it. But, it's not just classic Heep with Byron style vocals, as they also bring in some Tullisms and then attempt to make it more modern by also using Camel (so maybe '75 instead of '71). There is Hammond organ aplenty, along with flute where required and lush guitars and great vocals. Simply put, if you ever enjoyed the first half a dozen Heep albums, especially the numbers that contained acoustic guitar, and are fond of Tull, then this is essential. This sort of music just shouldn't exist in 2013, but I for one am very glad that it does. tihlde.org/~alexandr/morild/

The music on this album is pretty much straight forward symphonic prog in the vein of Camel and the other greats from the international symphonic prog scene. To this, also add the greats from the Norwegian prog scene from the 1970s. In other words, they are running their ship pretty safe, clear away from any rocks. You get tonnes of hammonds, flutes, guitars and drums. The vocals is also pretty typical understated symphonic prog. In other words; there is nothing here a symphonic prog fan would dislike.

Morild is ticking of all the right boxes. The only box they are not ticking off is the one for "great songs". And this my only gripe with this album. The only remotely great song here is The Slave Ship trilogy at the end of this double album. This is where Morild adds both identity and real quality. The rest of the album is just ticking along nicely........ and just that.

Morild is a band which is clearly very ambitious and brave. They also have the potential to really deliver killer albums. Time To Rest on the other hand is a good middle of the road symphonic prog album which will appeal to fans of this music and just that. Morild are in the process of recording a new album so keep an eye on them.

3 stars