THE NIGHTMARE BECOMES REALITY

Swedish act ANIMA MORTE have been around as recording artists since 2007, the quartet consisting of Fredrik, Stefan, Teddy and Daniel with one full length production and a single to their name in addition contributions to a handful or so of concept albums of the various artists variety. "The Nightmare Becomes Reality" is their second full length CD, and was released by Swedish label Transubstans Records in the spring of 2011.

The main inspirations for this Swedish quartet appears to be horror movies and Italian symphonic rock, with a band name like Goblin mentioned rather often in articles I've read about this outfit. Their album and song titles documents their love of movies of the creepier kind quite nicely, and while the music can't be described as terrifying in any manner whatsoever they do explore a part of the art rock universe that isn't exactly dominated by light and joyful scenery.

In terms of style I'd guess that Camel is the closest comparison I can make from personal experience, as dreamladen atmospheres is a characteristic trait shared by both. Drawn out, warm and pleasant guitar soloing flanked by at times vast arrays of tangents and knobs is very much what we're treated to. Fans of vintage instruments will have a swell time catching organ, Mellotron and various kinds of vintage keyboard and synth instruments in action. Swirling textures and fluctuating layers aplenty, with dampened wandering guitar motifs and steady controlled rhythms underscoring quite nicely. Jazz-inspired bass and drum motifs is another detail Anima Morte share with aforementioned Camel, albeit not as commonly nor extensively explored by the former as by the latter.

Where these two bands separate is in the overall mood however. While Camel excels in atmospheres either joyful or dreamy melancholic, Anima Morte thrives when they can conjure themes of a more shadowy nature. Never dramatic nor threatening, but gloomy, slightly brooding and a dampened ominous feeling traits that is a common denominator throughout. And with an ever so slightly orientation in the direction of vintage space rock as additional flavouring.

I see that Anima Morte is a band that comes recommended to fans of the darker edged Italian symphonic art rock scene. And while those may make up the core audience of this act, I'd say that those with a general interest for 70's symphonic progressive rock should spend a few minutes to check out whether or not this is a band to their liking. In particular if you really enjoy vintage tangents of all sorts and you prefer your art rock to be instrumental.

A very competent album by a Swedish band with a style that could be compared to Camel due to the emphasis on clean dynamic lead solos. From the outset when the screams are heard and the creaking doors I was a little taken aback wondering what my ears were being subjected to. I soon got used to the ethereal style and there are no lyrics to speak of, mainly massive passages of dark instrumentals.

Every track seems to ebb with a power exhumed from the depths of the horror vault. Perhaps the band are inspired by Dario Argento's schlock horror grand guignol gore movies, such as Suspiria. The black arts and extreme gore of his films are well known and the music on offer from Anima Morte would make a fitting soundtrack. It is a symphonic soudscape generated by the band, though I am no fan of the horror genre, preferring to give it a wide berth, so this was an immediate turn off for my ears.

Tracks with titles such as Coridoor of Blood, Passage Of Darkness, Solemn Graves, Feast Of Feralia and The Dead Will Walk The Earth may interest some and I can see where the album will appeal as the horror genre has a solid market. I can also admire the musical techniques, but it is not an album I will return to as it is nightmarish music, darkening the atmosphere; simply not for my tastes on any level. I can listen to dark prog at times but when it is blatantly based directly on horror themes such as this, I can never justify a high rating. 3 stars for the very well accomplished musicianship, if not for the ghoulish thematic content.

Since I was a kid, always had obsession for the dark mysterious music plethoric of Baroque organ, to the point that a psychologist in the school thought I had some kind of depressive episodes (Until he discovered the dark beaurty of some of my albums and changed his opinion), so you can imagine my fascination when the postman handed me the signed copy of The Nightmare Becomes Reality by ANIMA MORTE, I felt like a kid with new toy, because I already had enjoyed Face the Sea of Darkness.

But almost from the start I noticed I was before a different album, even when they keep their mysterious and aggressive trademark, this time the Swedish guys manage to balance perfectly the darkness with the lush and pompous keyboards in the style of RICK WAKEMAN with a Mellotron in the vein of TONY BANKS. a blend that is hard to achieve without falling into stereotypes instead of capturing the essence, a common mistake among new bands that ANIMA MORTE has avoided with great dexterity

The album starts with "Voices of Beyond", a dark and terrifying intro that places the listener in the required mood for what's coming later, but only when the first guitar notes of "Corridor of Blood" start, we can notice how the band is reaching maturity, this is not an horror band anymore, they became a band that uses terror as an instrument to transmit feelings and sensations, balancing the darker sections with the pompous organ that reminds me of the 70's pioneer of the genre, plus a very hard a powerful rhythm section softened by an acoustic guitar. One of their best works of the band and a great start for the album.

"The Revenant" starts with a nice Mellotron intro that leads to a fluid guitar and percussion lead passage. This time they play with several variations over the same theme, but adding something new in each repetition in order to maintain the expectation in the listener. The guitar work is outstanding.

Despite being one of the most melodic and fluid tracks, "Contamination" is really a scary piece of music, because ANIMA MORTE creates a sense of suspense and claustrophobia when they pretend to surprise us with a blast of power but nothing happens, this feeling of an incomplete process (obviously created intentionally) leads us towards some form of pleasant desperation.

To be honest "Passage of Darkness" is probably my least favorite track, being that the complex percussion distracts me from the keyboard work, even when I enjoyed it (hey, I used to be a keyboardist, so elaborate percussion doesn't frighten me), seems like the guys have mixed too many ideas and different atmospheres, loosing a bit of coherence. Still liked it, but not my favorite.

"Solemn Graves" is frightening from the soft atmospheric entrance, that seems to prepare the listener for an explosion of terror, but again the band maintains the suspense till the end with a flawless organ performance by Fredrik Klingwall that again brings to memory the excellent Criminal Record. Great music.

The melodic "Delirious" is a bluesy song in the style of URIAH HEEP (Demons & Wizards) specially because the keyboards sound very close to Ken Hensley, but with a different guitar style, still heavy but avoiding the use of wah-wah, so the sound is very original.

"Feast of Feralia" brings ÃNGLAGÃRD to my memory (Well Mattias Olsson is a guest in the album), because they blend the aggressiveness of Heavy Prog with the most delicate Symphonic elements obtaining a final atmosphere that I only heard in Swedish post 1990 bands, specially for the exquisite collision between strong organ and delicate acoustic guitar.

Now is the turn "The Nightmare Becomes Reality)", one of the most dramatic pieces in the album, the constant hammering of the organ creates a sense of anguish that keeps me at the edge of the sit, in some way reminds me of "Into the Cage" by GENESIS, but heavier that works as an interlude before the mini-epic "Things to Come", a track in which the guys of ANIMA MORTE rest a bit from the heavy obscure atmosphere in order to focus in the classical oriented Symphonic sound of the 70's. a good relief after so many strong emotions.

The album ends with "The Dead will Walk he Earth" a good closer for a great album, because comprises all the mystery and drama of the album in a calmed but full of suspense instrumental song.

It's hard to rate "The Nightmare Becomes Reality" because I felt tempted to give them 5 stars, but some minor flaws in a couple of tracks, and the security that they are able to release even better music, made me go with 4 solid stars that should be 4.5 if our system allowed it.

ANIMA MORTE's second album "The Nightmare Becomes Reality" isn't as dark as its title may make you believe. The album art may be goulish and the music minor-key, but everything remains rather light in arrangements and upbeat in pace, often opting for bright synth tones rather then big mellotrons. What makes this interesting is how they add dark and slightly threatening themes to the easy-going melodic heart of their songs.

The most similar album that comes to mind is "Symphonic Holocaust" from MORTE MACABRE. Even the band name seems coined after them. Other obvious references are the soundtracks of GOBLIN and the subtle instrumental music of BO HANSSON. ANIMA MORTE is more upbeat and melodic then their inspirations.

I also hear a lot of CAMEL in this music: this album has a sound similar of 'Moonmadness', it has the muscle of 'Mirage' and the instrumental conceptual approach of 'Snow Goose' (Just check the track 'Contamination'). I keep those Camel albums in high regard and even if "The Nightmare Becomes Reality" isn't on the same level as those mellow-moody Prog masterpieces, it is very deserving in its own right. The only flaw I see is that all compositions tend to sound a bit similar after a while.

This album boasts 47 minutes of moody melodic themes, it has an excellent musical interplay and a high level of Prog authenticity. Nevertheless this album seems to have failed finding an audience. A real pity. This is excellent instrumental Prog and it's been quite a while since I was impressed this much by a contemporary symphonic Prog album.

My first taste of Sweden's own ANIMA MORTE began with the next record "Upon Darkened Stains" from 2014 and my expectations were a little too high I suppose giving it 3.5 stars but being a little put off by the modern sound mostly from the synths. I was really hoping for a GOBLIN-like all analog sound and that modern vibe bugged me. "The Nightmare Becomes Reality" from 2011 is similar to the followup but more to my liking for sure. Lots of mellotron, great drumming and bass while the guitar style changes throughout.

This band is a four piece and influenced by the usual suspects like GOBLIN, Enio Morricone and surprisingly SAMLA MAMMAS MANNA a band that is bright and positive not dark and horror influenced. I am not in any way shape or form a fan of Horror movies but I do like that dark sound like that MORTE MACABRE record for example. "Voices From Beyond" a short 30 second intro of voices ending with a scream gets us started.

The first track that really stood out for me was "Passage Of Darkness" and partly because it's piano led instead of synth led. The drumming and bass are so good here and check out the mellotron. "Feast Of Feralia" is another standout piece again the piano leads but some prominent guitar too. And again the drumming really makes everything better. I'm not a big fan of the title track with those synths. "Things To Come" the longest piece at 8 minutes rounds out my top three with again piano and mellotron making me happy but some ripping guitar on here too.

There's enough here to give that fourth star, I did like it right from the first spin despite having some issues with it. I forgot to mention that Mattias Olsson guests on drums and bowed guitar and he co-produced it.