TWANGYLUCK

METROGNOM were a five piece band out of Norway releasing this one album back in 2006. It's a concept album about our alien friend Twangyluck and his adventures. We get four long tracks over 64 1/2 minutes. Guitar, bass, drums, keyboards and horns are the main instruments but lots of synths including mini-moog as well as some mellotron and theremin. There's even these Akai synthesizer woodwinds. The guitarist would go on to run a record label while the keyboardist became a session musician and the horn player became a Producer and DJ. Man this is a good album. I'm surprised I didn't discover this back when it came out but this one is pretty obscure. Almost all instrumental save for Twangyluck's words here and there. My top two are the opener and closer.

"Max Planet(Incl. The Sudden Turbulent Landing Procedure" opens the proceedings with beeping sounds and our alien talking in a mono-toned voice as all aliens do. Guitar takes over at 1 1/2 minutes riffing away as drums, organ and a full sound follow. Nice. What's even nicer is the section that follows led by the sax. Just this beautiful melodic section that will be replaced by the guitar and full sound as themes are repeated. Love that interlude after 9 minutes, so interesting and enjoyable then it kicks back in before 12 minutes.

"Ten Peppermint Butterflies In A Ray Of Moonlight" like the opener is 14 minutes long and those are the two shortest tracks on here. A quiet start but it kicks in fairly hard after a minute with guitar and drums as the synths shoot off everywhere. The synths turn melancholic and I like this better. It settles right down after 4 minutes with relaxed sax leading the way before it turns punchy with a full sound. Acoustic guitar only 12 minutes in then it turns dark late to end it. "Opening Ceremony To The Troll's Seventeenth Olympic Games" builds then settles but check out when it kicks in before 8 minutes. Oh my! Love that bass then the tempo picks up. Another calm before ending hard with some nasty organ.

"Tellus Will Tell Us It's Will" is the 21 1/2 minute closer. Man this one is all over the place including the start with those strange sounds as we hear thunder in the distance. The synths sound like wind and then the guitar starts to rise out of this after 2 minutes. Great sound a minute later with the sax, drums and more. Check out the bass, drum, organ section after 5 1/2 minutes to after 8 minutes. Love that section. Organ only after 9 minutes then the drums join in. Guitar follows and it will soar bringing FLOYD to mind. Nice drum work after 15 minutes and then synth woodwinds after 18 minutes as it continues to shift and change.

A very solid 4 stars and one I highly recommend. Just so much here that I enjoy. A huge surprise to be honest.