HINTERLAND

I had a hard time reviewing this CD. I can´t really make up my mind if I really like it or not. I´ve been listening to it over and over again for weeks. And I can´t still seem to enjoy it as much as thought I would. This band from Norway has all the right influences and the fact that those musicians are highly skilled is beyond any question. Think of bands like King Crimson, Van Der Graaf Generator, Genesis, Gentle Giant, Yes and the like: it is all there. So what´s the problem? After carfeul listening one comes up with the conclusion that the songwriting here is the main issue.

Not that the songs are bad per se. The issue is that those guys didn´t quite produce a sound of their own. Hearing this CD the impression I had was that of a great cover band, doing impersonations of each of their heroes, one at the time. The songs are like long medleys with lots of ELP-sounding organs, early KC mellotron waves, Chris Squire-ish bass runs, Gentle Giant vocal harmonies and so on. It wouldn´t bother me so much if at least the songs were good, but clearly they lack stronger hooks, continuity and wholeness. Nice bits most the time, ok, but no real cohesion. Unlike some other retro bands (Flower Kings is maybe the major exemple), Wobbler hasn´t found a distinticve musical personality yet.

Conclusion: outstanding musicians still in need to find their face and sound, and mature their songwriting skills. We have all the reasons to expect great things from Wobbler in the future. And I´m loking forward to hear their next works. Rating: 2,5 stars that I will round up to 3 because of their tremendous musicanship and good taste.