NUCLEUS

Nucleus is Vemod's companion album in every possible aspect. Most of the music stems from roughly the same period and the style is similar. I would have a hard time picking favourites between both but due to a few nice details I'd pick this one.

The early Anekdoten played a 90's version of Magma mixed with King Crimson's Red sound. Especially so in the heavy rhythm section with its high-tuned snare and thundering bass, also the mellotron and some of the chromatic guitar chords will bring KC to mind. On top of that you get some grungy power and Anekdoten's trademark smoky-dreamy vocals. The end result on Nucleus sounds very much like Anekdoten and like nothing else to me. It is more song-oriented then Änglagard and decidedly heavier and darker then Landberk.

The album boasts a number of powerful songs, or should I say that it doesn't contain anything but stellar music? The opener drives on a crashing bass groove and dissonant guitars and cello. Beautifully sad verses work against heavy breaks and spacey improvisations. Much more mature then the debut and one of my favourite Anekdoten tracks.

On Harvest and Book of Hours the King Crimson influences come to the fore but somehow they never sounded derivative to me. I believe Anekdoten managed to put some of their own identity into them. Raft / Rubankh adds some Magma to the Crimson stew. The kind aggressive bass playing here also makes me think of the bizarre punk of Nomeansno.

On Here and In Freedom they explore a softer style, something they would refine on their later albums, but also here, it is already very touching and accomplished. This Far From The Sky is probably the hardest track to get into. It has a very heavy and dissonant main theme and equally disharmonious quiet parts. This is not composed to make it easy for the listener but then, people with limited attention spans don't like prog anyhow.

My 2004 reissue adds the ethereal instrumental Luna Surface that was recorded during the Nucleus sessions, it's a non-melodious ambient piece that would have fitted well on the Morte Macabre's album, it's something inbetween KC's Moonchild and Can's sound experiments. Many will skip it but I think it fits this album very well.

Together with A Time of Day, Nucleus has proven to be the hardest Anekdoten album to get into for me, but of course the reward comes a hundredfold.