LYCKSALIGHETENS Ö

Hidden Lands is a Swedish symphonic rock band which is called Neo-prog here and that is certainly a good description. It is a two year old band which released their debut album 2012 "In our nature" which was a decent but harmless record. I think "Lycksalighetens ö" is a little progression. It's a new record which unlike the last one's cover, has a lot of nice colours. "Lycksalighetens ö" is a lovely and very romantic title and it's a big shame that the whole album isn't in Swedish. Then it could have been much more interesting. The line up is Bruno Edling who sings, Hannes Ljunghall who plays keyboards and guitars, Phillip Bastin who plays bass and the drummer Gustav Nyberg.

This record is a progression according to me and the biggest explanation is the song lengths. Long and epic sweaping songs could easier pass over the fealings the band want to share with us. The last track called "Hidden Lands", just like the band is the album's longest and best track(7/10). it features well played keyboards and original melodies and is nice to hear. I also hear that the band, and especially Ljunghall has potentials and could approach more perfection in the future. Still this feels incoherent and a bit lame from time to time. "Corsican Daydream" is another long and fine track(7/10) and the third longest "Dakkar" is also very pleasant(7/10). I also like and would recommend the more popular sounding "In the wind"(6/10).

Hidden Lands has big pretentions and that is awesome, and they should be honoured for that. I will give the record three prog stars and look forward to hear more from this band in the future. This album reveals a lot of happiness and I think that will reach the lsiteners too.