A DROP OF LIGHT

These days I rarely have time to write reviews but for this record I had to make an exception. I purchased the it almost as soon as it came out and listened to it a couple of times. My initial thought was; this is intense. It had all the elements that makes a music great for me. It took additional concentrated listening sessions to familiarize myself with all the melody lines and the intricate structure of the compositions. Now I reached a point where this record is firmly in my ALL TIME top 5 best records list.

Last time I was this excited about a piece of music was in 2009 when Barbaro (Ma Non Troppo) was released by Present. Since then there has been several notable releases but nothing has reached to the top 5, "all time" level for me.

Musical structure is complex; although it incorporates many musical styles, they are unified into seamless compositions. Transitions between musical styles are exceptionally smooth. I think this is so because the transitions between various instruments are so flawless that everything fits together in absolute perfect harmony with the musical structure.

Musicianship is superb. Erik Hammarström's drumming is especially outstanding. At times bass woodwind instruments are so uncommonly aggressive, it gives you goose pimples. Base guitar is the tent pole where everything else hangs from. I love its fuzzy, distorted, in your face sound. Even the supporting guest musicians are all masters of their instruments. It is a pleasure to put the headphones on and take the music apart instrument by instrument and appreciate the skilful communication between players throughout intricate and complex compositions.

Due to the musicians' origins, it is hard to not discuss Anglagard in this context. Anglagard is one of my favorite bands and I am very familiar with their sparse discography. Yes there are moments where you can recognize the Anglagard sound and its style but All Traps On Earth is much more complex, aggressive, dynamic and incorporates a huge variety of musical styles and influences into a single organic sound. I listened A Drop of Light and then immediately switched to Viljans öga. When I compared these two masterpieces back to back a few things stood out for me: Anglagard was way too melodic, it had many pastoral passages which went on much longer than anything in A Drop of light and it had, excessive amount of flute. I think A Drop of Light could not possibly be the next step from Viljans öga. It is more like a bifurcation occurring at Anglagard before Viljans öga was released and now Viljans öga and A Drop of Light are in a parallel but completely separate musical paths.

I also very much enjoyed the sound of this recording. The closest I could come to explaining what the recording sound like is like is perhaps calling it "Dusty" as in ray of sun traversing a dusty room. I really like this sound quality instead of crystal clear recordings; it suits the music absolutely perfectly.

I cannot conclude my review without mentioning what a significant contribution Miranda Brand makes to this record. Her tone and immaculate delivery is significantly contributing to the success of this record.

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