LEFT TO BURN

Salva's long awaited second album, "Left to burn", is finally out and I'm happy to say it has been well worth the wait. They have even exceeded my expectations with this new release. I was a big fan of their first album, "A handful of earth", and have been waiting anxiously for the follow up. The rich symphonic prog with folk and metal-leanings is still the foundation for Salva's music but they have evolved and refined both their sound and their compositional skills since the debut album. This is noticable (at least to my ears) throughout the album.

I have a hard time picking out favorite tracks but if I was forced I would say; "Ord ver. 2", a beautiful folky song with one of the best guitar solo's I've ever heard from Mr. Gavik and lyrics sung in Swedish as a one-off; "A dying rose", one of two "epic" tracks on the album where the variation is quite superb, still it remains cohesive throughout the entire song; "Stained", the heaviest track on the album with haunting, melancholy and almost whispering vocals by Mr. Malmberg.

To sum things up; I would say that this is symphonic prog at it's best and I give it my warmest recommendations.

Yes I'm giving this 5 stars too.

A stunning piece of genius. Quite simply this is the best album I've heard in a a long long time.

It's just got everything.

Imagine all of your favourite Prog, Rock and Metal bands rolled into one. The influences here range from King Crimson to Deep Purple and the likes of Uriah Heep and even ELO. Just listen to the riff on 'Clara Leaving' and you'll hear something that Deep Purple at their finest wouldn't have any trouble recording. they've actually made THAT hammond sound contemporary - amazing.

This album transcends the gap between 70's old school and the neo Prog of the 90's in one big happy slice of your favourite cake.

Only trouble is, like your favourite cake, there isn't any more.

Damn.

Reform guys PLEASE.

Go and buy. If you don't you'll never forgive yourself.

MY DISCOVERY OF THE YEAR 2007...!

Follow up to "A Handfull Of Earth" (2004), their second release "Left To Burn" is an amazing album. SALVA is hard to pigeon hole; many genres of progressive rock including folk with strong JETHRO TULL influences, hard rock/heavy metal of DEEP PURPLE and URIAH HEEP and symphonic (nice WAKEMAN-esque keyboard breaks) with some great vocals/harmonies. It is a great skill played on traditional, classic and modern instruments.

In fact, it's an essential PURCHASE from a brilliant band...!

This is SALVA's second album from 2007.These guys are from Sweden and this is a concept album that deals with rage, frustrations and fears. Some heavy lyrics here actually.Weird cover art. I'm not really a fan of the vocals and they sound like they're double tracked a lot.

"No Greater Wrath" opens with atmosphere as faint spoken words can be heard. It kicks in around a minute.The drums sound too upfront here. Catchy song though as the vocals come in before 2 minutes. Nice guitar solo after 6 minutes and we get accordion and mandolin late. "Ord Ver.2" is more laid back with a beat and vocals. Swedish vocals on this track only. A synth solo after 2 minutes when the vocals stop followed by a guitar solo then the vocals return. "Dying Rose" opens with accordion and a sample of children playing.The music kicks in quickly and vocals arrive before a minute. Heavy guitar and piano come and go. A change before 7 1/2 minutes as atmosphere and faint vocals can be heard then it kicks back in with aggression.

"Clara Leaving" is a catchy tune with vocals. A pretty good song actually. "Aska" is an instrumental that opens with strummed guitar as sampled mellotron comes in. Piano and bass join in as well. It turns heavy then the mellotron returns after 5 minutes.The guitar starts to solo then it settles down a minute later.Good song. A top three. "Stained" is my favourite. It opens with the word "Unforgivable" then a nice heavy sound eventually kicks in.This is good. Mellotron 7 1/2 minutes in then it calms down with spoken vocals. Some ripping guitar 4 1/2 minutes in. "Underneath" is the other top three. It settles down quickly with flute-like and a beat. Reserved vocals join in. It's fuller after 2 1/2 minutes when the vocals stop. Vocals are back as it settles and these contrasts continue. Accordion later.

The last three songs really save this from being 2 stars in my opinion. Just not a fan at all of the first half of this album.

Salva is a band from Sweden with 3 albums in theor pocket since now, Left to burn is the second offer from 2007. Well, I had hard times listning to this release in one spin, I don't know why but something is missing in overall sound. Is a decent album, with some nice instrumental passages, specially some good keyboards, but I don't like the voice at all, is to in front like the drums, and is not pleasent to my ears. The music is a combination of heavy prog passages with some folk touches here and there, not really bad but is not a convinceing offer to me. The best tune is A dying rose , nearly 11 min where the arrangements are more then ok, the rest of the pieces are decent but fail to impress me big time. I don't get it how some listners considered this to be a masterpice. 3 stars, ok but nothing more.