KALEJDOSKOPISKA AKTIVITETER

I discovered ANEKDOTEN really early on after finding out about this hidden world of progressive rock, and I fell for them and so naturally started looking for similar bands. That led me to this band QOPH and their second album "Pyrola" from 2004. It featured Nicklas Barker from ANEKDOTEN playing mellotron along with Simon Steensland and Mats Oberg from MATS/MORGAN also guesting. Great album by the way with english vocals from these Swedes.

This record I'm reviewing today is their debut from 1998 and the music is completely different from their second one that I have. The album cover is a hint with that zany looking jester as we get vocals that are quite aggressive and in swedish making them a little hard to take. There's silliness and theatrics with his singing here as well as they drift into avant territories at times. They also play quite a bit of bluesy music where the vocals are usually rough sounding, again not my thing. It's just so interesting to know that the album to follow this is more retro and warm, more to my tastes for sure.

Now the instrumental work on this record is outstanding, so impressive which you really want when your playing some complex stuff. An adventerous record for sure and that's what makes rating this hard because looking at it as more of an avant recording I can consider 4 stars for what it is but in the end either way I just don't get enough out of this to go that high with my rating. This is one of those albums that makes me wish I rated more objectively but that's not happening so 3 stars it is. Hey if it's an instrumental album maybe?

Those vocals are pretty much shouting on that opener and there's some silliness too. Nice finish with the guitar though. Guest sax on that second track which is one of the better tunes. I like the depth of this one. Third track is a turn off with that reggae vibe and those aggressive vocals. Track four is right up there after starting out not so great. I like the drumming 3 minutes in and it finishes strong. Blues is the word for tracks five and eight. Track six is hit and miss but how about the first 6 minutes of track seven, best song on here.

Way too many negatives to go 4 stars here despite the obvious talent.