HRISLAN OG STRAUMURINN

Eik is one of the best progressive rock bands ever came from Iceland with a short career lasted 7 years from 1971 until they disbanded in spring 1978. They offer two albums, the second one being the best, released in 1977 named Hrislan Og Straumurinn or in english The twig and the stream issued on CD at small label from Iceland named Spor. Well, this is a great album full of beautiful parts, going from symphonic prog to space/avant moments, few but exists like on Diskosnudurinn aka The disk jockey very much with a Zappa or Laser Pace sound. The opening track , the title track is excellent showing that Eik was a very promissing band but never manage to survive in prog scene from diffrent motives. Nearly 15 min of excellent playing, very good are the moog parts, what else a total winner piece. The rest of the tracks are shorter all are under 5 min, but this is not a problem, Eik manage to capture in each piece the essent of prog with nice flute arrangements, like on Eitthvað almennilegt - Something diffrent has some great energic drum parts, top notch keybords and complex arrangements, brilliant, in the most relaxed and smoother moments Eik is very similar with Camel, those unforgetable elegant passges Camel done in the ;70's. The instrumental Fúnk is another highlight from the album, with as title siggested with a funk toch over progressive parts, groovy bass lines, tempo changes, superb playing over all. In the end a very worthy album for all prog lovers, this is almost a lost gem with plenty of great moments, no weak parts, only memorable passages. Eik and specially this album is one of the best releases ever came from Iceland, worth to be discovered by many listners as possible. 4 stars easy, intresting cover art, the booklet of the CD has a brief history and a picture of the band and aswell lyrics. Recommended.