DICE

Symphonic Rock Swedish band,formed in early-70's by two friends,keyboardist Leif Larsson and guitarist �rjan Strandberg.As a duo they had already started writing original material,influenced by the likes of Procol Harum, Gentle Giant, The Nice and King Crimson,before meeting drummer Per Andersson and finding also bassist Fredrik Vildö through an ad.Dice recorded material for a full-length release already from 1976 (what was to become the ''Four Riders of the Apocalypse'' album),but not achieving a label contract,they started rehearsing on new compositions,now along with singer Robert Holmin.Eventually the band signed with the obscure label Marilla to release their self-titled debut in 1978.

Very much influenced by compatriots KAIPA as well as FOCUS, GENESIS and YES,Dice offer some excellent Symphonic Rock arrangements often with a humurous edge but far from something trully personal.The compositions are quite grandiose, based on Larsson's talented keyboard playing,including mellotron,organ,piano and synths, and Strandberg sensitive guitar playing,sometimes though reminding also of STEVE HOWE's nervous approach.At moments they even flirt with the complex nature of GENTLE GIANT or even YEZDA URFA with sudden breaks and unusual changing themes with complicated keyboard parts on the forefront.The band decided to hire a vocalist in order to make their sound more accesible,but I do not see any signs of accesibility in here.The whole material is definitely far from commercial with complex time signatures and changing moods in a blink of an eye.The highlight is of course the 22-min. exciting suite ''Follies'',actually pieces of music written between 1972-1975 and stuck nicely together to deliver this grand opus.Classical-influenced pianos, romantic flashy moog synthesizers, warm electric guitars, orchestral mellotron passages and some schizophenic fast interplays offer a great Symphonic Rock experience,spoiled only by the mediocre vocal exercises of Holmin.

Another fine work of the Symphonic Rock scene of Sweden along the lines of KAIPA, ATLAS, BLAKULLA and AUTUMN BREEZE.Complex musicianship, sensitive passages, bombastic moments but little originality.Strongly recommended...3.5 stars.

The artwork promises a lot. The music is not that interesting though.

This is an instrumental album from this Swedish band (not to be confused with the German band with the same name) and it goes down the ELP/Fusion path. That means bombastic intros and keyboards. The rock-classic music fusion is combined with jazz/ fusion. The tracks mostly starts out with a rock-classic fusion and then dips into jazz/fusion in the middle party with some samplings of for example The Nutcracker Suite (from the Russian composer which name escapes me) before it concludes with another stab at rock- classic music. The music is sadly predictable.

Despite the lack of orginality, the quality of the music is good. I have maybe heard this type of music before by other bands and I get a "here we go again" feeling. But as a sound collage, this album is good. This album is well worth checking out if a mix of ELP and fusion is your cup of tea.

3 stars

The live heritage of DICE is this compilation of live recordings between March 78 and Spring 79 in Denmark and Stockholm. On the whole, the musical result could be best described as a mix between ELP and GENTLE GIANT but, unfortunately, it doesn´t really represent how a live performance was.

The first two pieces are, by far, the more interesting section of the whole record. "Greed" and "Disease", from their very first record, are great examples of their musical talent, and are part of the superb symphonic rock of the late 70s, full of changes and great dialogues between guitar and organ, including some dark and mysterious passages.

"The Drum Thing" is a percussion set performed by the four members of the band. It has an explosive start, but it later turns into fairy and circus music, not really interesting at the end, and you have the sensation that all the high expectations won´t be satisfied. Something similar happens with "Life, Where Have You Been All My Life", a ballad by guitarist Örjan Strandberg, with great vocal chorus, but the overall result isn´t excellent at all.

"Follies", the longest piece of the record with 14 minutes, is the next disappointment. It has an impressive start, with frenzy guitar and great vocal arrangements very close to GENTLE GIANT, turning later into keyboard oriented music (FOCUS comes to my mind); lots of tempo changes, including an interlude with mellotron and guitar, very interesting and with that typical scnadinavian flavour, dark and melancholic. But by the secondnd half, the sound becomes more in the traditional symphonic school, less original, despite a tremendous finale. The overall impression is that the song is not really a cohessive work, because there are too many ideas, but not well connected.

"Alea Iacta Est", the last part of the live section, includes Robert Holmin, lead singer on the second record. It is a very ELP oriented song and, despite the great quality of the music, it lacks originality.

The bonus tracks are very representative of what happened to many bands on the late 70s, placed between the glorious days and what was yet to come, so there isn´t a clear stylistic direction. "Merchandise" is like a parody of musical trends, quite funky oriented. The band describes it as an experimentation, but for me, it lacks inventiveness. "Spring Time" and "Drowned in Time" are simple tunes that, despite the vocal arrangements and incredible keboard playng by Leif Larson, don´t offer anything special. The last song of the record, "An Urgent Request", is nothing but a short and delicate effort to conclude the recording and, in the artists´words, it could fit well "at the end of a great Broadway musical".

Despite being a great admirer of this band, I can´t give this record a high punctuation. The overall result is not vey impressive, with a superb beginning that slowly turns down. Furthermore, despite the great talent and musicianship of the artists, the sound quality is a bit poor sometimes, so the result is not brilliant.

I reccommend this record only to admirers of the band interested in completing their recordings. For the rest, they should better check the previous studio recordings, much more interesting than this one. 2 ½ stars.

The album Dice featured a decent but somewhat distracting vocalist, but is a little more polished than The Four Riders. There's still the same mix between upbeat major-key ditties, lush symphonic epics, and dissonant ostinatos. All of the tracks are very strong, but I find the instrumental breaks on "The Utopian Suntan," the Focus-like instrumental "Annika," and the glorious mellotron dirge "Esther" to be exceptional. The 22-minute suite "Follies" is an interesting look at schizophrenia. The lyrics are often poorly written but still well-sung and they suit the music pretty well. As is often the case, this album sounds more professional but less distinctive than the rawer predecessor. A lot of the songs are based very much on chord sequences or academic-sounding melodic patterns without a lot else going on. That doesn't bother me, but it seems to strike others as being bland and unmemorable and more like exercises than well-developed compositions. I think they're great though.

Sweden has always seemed to be a bastion of progressive music. Dice were a top-notch symphonic rock group from the 1970's with virtuosic musicianship and compositional skills, occasionally marred by less-than perfect vocals, but still an outstanding group. The story of their albums' release dates are kind of convoluted, but since their all available on CD for good (hopefully), it's probably fair to treat them as sequential.

The first work they did was The Four Riders of the Apocalypse, an all-instrumental opus based on the biblical prophesy and Albrecht Durer's engravings. The two shorter pieces (around 8 minutes each) are complex and fusiony, but surprisingly upbeat for such a dire themed album. The star of the show is one Orjan Strandberg who plays lightning fast but very melodic lines that are essentially just very complex riffs, around which the tracks seem to be based. Keyboardist Leif Larsson provides sturdy accompinament on organ, mellotron, and synthesizers. The two longer pieces are around 11 minutes long and are the highlights, in my opinion at least, as they go through a wide range of styles but still flow together nicely. Some people have complained about a few of the many sections like the part that sounds like "Larks Tongues in Aspic, part Two" (there is a section that sounds very much like that piece, but it only occurs briefly, so it's more of an homage than a ripoff, and I have to admit that I didn't even notice the similarity the first several times I listened to it since the rhythm is commonly used in a lot of prog music) or the quote from an old big band jazz piece that I can't identify (I actually really like this part as it's so unexpected). In spite of those brief controversial parts, the rest of the two long tracks are full-fledged masterpieces of symphonic rock that push all the right buttons and do a pretty good job of depicting the apocalyptic situations dictated by the concept. One of the great obscure masterpieces of 1970's European progrock.

This was disappointing after enjoying their all-instrumental "Four Riders Of The Apocalypse" so much. The vocals are tolerable most of the time but they aren't that great. You can kind of see how this has more of a commercial direction compared to "Four Riders Of The Apocalypse" which is really it's downfall.

"Alea Lacta Est" is an uptempo track with lots of organ, drums and tasteful guitar. Pulsating synths. Vocals don't arrive until 3 minutes in, but it's the instrumental work that shines on this one. Very good song. "Annika" is an instrumental and perhaps my favourite track on here.The guitar and organ build in sound as drums come in. Piano 3 minutes in. "The Utopian Suntan" is a humerous look at the depletion of the ozone layer and the result of too much exposure to ultra violet rays. This really sounds like some of the silly songs QUEEN has recorded, you know the ones that sound like they are from the thirties. This especially sounds like that vocally. "The Venetian Garden" is an instrumental with some mellotron before 2 minutes. Piano is prominant.

"Follies" is the side long suite coming in at 22 minutes. The topic on this one is schizophrenia. I found the vocals really took away from the enjoyment of this song. Some nice guitar before 4 minutes followed by organ. Vocals are back. A good uptempo section comes in around the 6 minute mark with better sounding vocals. There is a piano solo with mellotron after 9 minutes. Vocal melodies and guitar after 14 minutes are good, and I really like the symphonic passage that follows after 15 minutes. The vocal section after 17 minutes is lacking a lot. Mellotron 19 minutes in. The last 2 minutes of the song I find annoying.

Some very good sections with unfortunately a lot of poor passages. Barely 3 stars in my opinion. Please check out their "Four Horses Of The Apocalypse" though.

DICE released only one studio album back in the late seventies, and this isn't it. This was a demo they recorded but never released at the time, instead they released their self titled debut the year after they recorded this one. "The Four Riders Of The Apocalypse" was finally released as an album in 1992 ! I must admit i've been scratching my head wondering why this wasn't released back in 1977. This is a concept album and also an all instrumental record, except for the bonus track. I was reminded of YES and GENESIS quite a bit, and the star of the show is Leif Larsson who plays some amazing mellotron, synths, piano and organ. I have to say that the bass(Rickenbacker) stands out nicely as well. Two complaints though. First of all the sound quality could be a lot better and second this sounds too familiar much of the time.

We get started with "War (1st Impression)" beginning with "Ouverture" a short piece that really reminds me of ELP, in particular Mr.Emerson. "Fronts" features mellotron as marching style drumming and organ lead the way. It calms right down before rebuilding before 2 minutes back to the organ/drum melody. Whistling is heard as you can imagine the soldiers marching off to war. Another calm as the mellotron flows before 3 1/2 minutes. Guitar becomes prominant after 4 minutes and it reminds me of Howe. Check out the Wakeman-like keyboard work to follow. We are in YES territory folks. "Battle" features a flood of mellotron after a minute. Nice.The pulsating keys recall Banks. So much going on at this point(the battle). Very heavy drums end it. "Deserted Battlegrounds" is a reflective 43 second piece that ends the first impression. "Disease (2nd Impression)" opens with pulsating keys, then the chunky bass arrives, followed by the keys that recall Wakeman again. A calm comes in and this contrast continues. I really like the uptempo section 5 minutes in with mellotron. This is a cool YES flavoured tune.

"Greed (3rd Impression)" opens with organ as guitar, drums and fat bass join in. This track has a lot of energy on it. Some solo piano melodies before 5 minutes before we get back to the collage of intricate sounds. "Death (4th Impression)" like the War impression is divided into 4 parts. It starts with "Requiem" as what sounds like church organ comes powerfully in(hey it's death what did you expect). After some drums and bombast a calm arrives, the mellotron waves the rest of the way are incredible. "Dance Of The Devils" might be the best sounding song on here. It opens with drums, organ and mellotron before it all picks up speed as bass and guitar come in. A change then occurs after 1 1/2 minutes as it settles down even employing a short "In The Mood" interlude for fun. The levity continues until 3 1/2 minutes in when the uptempo melody from earlier comes back to end it. "Transition" is a one minute organ piece that is quite mellow. "Heaven" is the final piece of the concept. It features mellotron and organ that becomes dramatic 1 1/2 minutes in as drums and a fuller sound arrives. The sound calms back down before becoming massive again.

The bonus track from 1979 is called "Young Man's Delight". It's a 6 minute vocal song that is humerous and very well done. I like it.

The introduction to the group here at progarchives mentions that fans of Mithrandir and Amenophis might lap this up. I haven't heard Mithrandir, but this entirely instrumental album bears no resemblance to Amenophis' elegant majestic work.

Dice seems to be very much from the ELP school in terms of use and sound of the organ, with perhaps even less emotion and warmth, if that is even possible. It is hard to pick out a highlight, but the main reason to listen might be for a fan of various jazz, classical, and prog classics to pick out the little snippets taken from these genres. Taken without insight respect, subtlety, feel for light and shade, sense of melody or timing, and with a misplaced irreverence. I take nothing away from the competence of these musicians, and to the possible limited appeal among prog snobs, but this one should have stayed on the shelf.

As it said in this two reveiws from above i'm agree that is not a bad album but made in rush, it sounds sometime unfinished. Indeed there is some good moments but are some who sound really bad like The venetian bargain, boring and repetative. Alea lacta est is the best track and maybe the most well played, the rest is not so bad but neither something special. 3 stars, could it be a better one if they worked harder, in fact this is the second album, and by the second album every band has to create their own style , in my opinion.

This is quite an interesting one, if only for the concept. The music here is pretty good, and I think the songs are well built. An instrumental prog rock album was pretty rare back in the day, so this gets a few originality points in my book. I actually like the flow of this album, I don't think any minute is useless. The main problem with this album is the sound, yes it's kinda dated. Some of they keyboards sound a little bad, and sometimes the guitar is not really great too. But it's a solid prog rock album, it's good, but non-essential. 3 stars.