SAGA DE RAGNAR LODBROCK

A theatrical progressive folk-rock collaboration produced in honour of Ragnar Lodbrock, the Viking captain. Musically speaking, I'm put in mind at points of Gryphon's medieval folk approach, though the one-off supergroup also share Eloy's irritating preoccupation with including obtrusive narration of the concept during tracks, which rather gets in the way of my appreciation of the music. Still, there's plenty of dramatic stuff on here - funeral dirges and so forth - and if you're really into theatrical French prog in the mode of bands such as Ange this might work well with you. Three stars seems to be a fair score - the album is no classic, but if you happen to be particularly receptive to its charms you'll probably enjoy it a lot.