VILJANS ÖGA

My criticisms of Anglagard are steadfast and no secret, but on this album, they present their most interesting work. That said, the music is still all over the place with few themes to rely on and just a bunch of parts. Anglagard is a band that has no business making long tracks. They piece together crumbs and scraps that lack context and cohesion. Instrumentally, Anglagard should be a symphonic lover's dream, but compositionally, they are rot.

"Ur Vilande" Strings, flute, and piano perform a lovely introduction as the bass and acoustic guitar soon join them, with flashes of Mellotron therein. That latter instrument appears after some heavy electric guitar. The sudden stop-start notes halfway through disrupt the composition. Then the music stops to let in some bizarre noises- why? Were proper transitions impossible to find? After that it's raucous guitar and silliness. What a pity. The last bit is a blast of heavy bass and keyboards that glide into flute and light guitar.

"Sorgmantel" Blown instruments make up the beginning of this track. This may be the band's best and more coherent section, with heavy bass, jazz guitar, flute, and other elements that congeal together in a decent way. Unfortunately, it degenerates into an unintelligible mess. And that's what the rest of the piece consists of: Pseudo-melodic guitar and a mess of noise, especially from the bass. Of course the band has to stop the music to add a different passage at the end.

"Snårdom" Lots of wild ambition is present here. There are some more Mellotron and flute passages, but otherwise, it consists of spanked bass and garish rhythms. It is a noisy affair with the various instruments all competing rather than complementing. Predictably, it tapers off in a softer passage that bears no relation to what came before. The only thing that makes sense in this piece contextually speaking is the guitar solo, which crafts a great theme. Until the piece mercifully returns to the wonderful theme of the guitar solo, the rest of it wanders.

"Längtans Klocka" Extremely soft, with piano and flute, the final track of this foursome begins tantalizingly. After two and a half minutes, more sprightly music enters, which is in the vein of King Crimson's "Moonchild," but is more intelligible. Initially, this is a pleasant thing to hear. But close to the five minute mark, it turns into an aural wedgie for the listener: Over the top and painful. There is one good theme (again, guitar led), but the rest bores me. The final three minutes is circus music- either as a tribute or as a joke, it makes no difference to me.