A DROP OF LIGHT

The year 2018 was in general a musically poor year. There are (at least in my subjective terms) only two 2018 prog releases which might be considered really essential and rated as instant masterpieces. One of them, Heureux! by Ange, solemnly opened the year. Another one, A Drop Of Light by All Traps On Earth, now triumphantly closes it. Usually offshoots are quite far from the 'root' artists. All Traps On Earth is not just an offshoot of Anglagard but their true continuation and development, maybe just because the band includes Anglagard's key members. A Drop Of Light continues the guideline started with the second album by Anglagard, Epilog. Undoubtedly Epilog, Viljans Oga and A Drop Of Light are three sequential links of the same evolutionary chain.

I still remember and will never forget blessed 1990s when I got acquainted with the music of Anglagard and became their dedicated listener. Hybris was nothing but cubed King Crimson and did not impress too much... just a good new music in the vein of good old music. But Epilog was a revolution in consciousness. A new paradigm, widened horizons, new relationships between sounds, new principles of arrangement... well, it's difficult to say what was NOT new and fresh in that mindblowing, breathtaking album. Two years later, the band split. Epilog became the epilogue indeed. The great novelty of the album seemingly had to remain a one-of-a-kind phenomenon.

Fortunately, the disbanding was not definitive. Sixteen years later (what are 16 years in comparison to eternity?!) Anglagard revived and released Viljans Oga, not Epilog, Part Two, but Epilog, Second Degree. And now, the band's branch made a next step (giant step I'd say!) in the same direction: please find Epilog, Third Degree, an in-depth non-invasive study on the morphology and anatomy of harmony in vivo, full of unexpected combinations of sounds, revolutionary arrangements (including brass instruments), unpredictable changes of the tonality... and jeweled with female vocal.

The last circumstance is particularly noticeable. As far as I can remember, this is for the first time in the Anglagard's history. And the vocal by Miranda Brand is amazing, she perfectly combines the operatic power and rush typical for (exempli gratia) Elena Obraztsova or Tamara Sinyavskaya, with the 'disappearing' softness of Kari Rueslatten.

Musically, the debut album by All Traps On Earth may be considered the next (4th) chapter in the Anglagard's studio discography (my apologies to the musicians if they don't agree!). And hopefully this album is not the last one in the direction of Epilog. Epilog is inexhaustible and deserves further development.