THE ALL IS ONE

The Scandinavian veterans (with all kinds of excellent gusts) are back with their annual contribution.

1. "The All Is One" (8:50) a lyrics-oriented song until the instrumental section begins around 4:35. Amazing use of Mellotron in that section. (17.25/20)

2. "The Same Old Rock (One Must Imagine Sisyphus Happy)" (5:18) acoustic guitar! Steven Wilson-like vocal! Then it kicks into old rock territory (The Who!) It's a Who song with some Steve Howe-like guitar lead playing beneath it all! (8.5/10)

3. "The Magpie" (5:36) (8.5/10)

4. "Delusion (The Reign of Humbug)" (2:44) acoustic guitar and solo voce alone in a reverb chamber. Gorgeous. (5/5)

- N.O.X. ∞ (42:38) : 5. "Circles Around the Sun, Pt. 1" (9:11) nice, gentle keys before raw, acoustic violin joins in. At 1:50 whole band kicks in, creating a deep, ULVER-like groove. Heavily distorted almost cinematic multi-voiced vocals enter at 3:40, singing an eerie melody that creates a pretty but Danny Elfman-like environment. This is f*king brilliant! Aside from the little interlude songs, by far and away my favorite song on the album. (19.5/20) 6. "Ouroboros (Strange Loop)" (8:23) a repetitious jam song that feels as if it was created out of Chris Squire's "Schindleria Præmaturus." (17.25/20) 7. "Ascension" (3:37) spacey PINK FLOYD-ish instrumental with soft weave of stringed insturmesnts --before the violin goes crazy in the second half. Brilliant and beautiful! (10/10) 8. "Night of Pan" (15:33) nice display of discipline even if the format was used on Death-Defying Unicorn. (27/30) 9. "Circles Around the Sun, Pt. 2" (5:54) Motorspycho being both motor and psycho. It's okay. An unfortunate ending to an otherwise stunning 42-minute epic. (8.25/10) - 10. "A Little Light" (2:19) two acoustic guitars--until the freaky, horn-like end. . Thank you, Allman Brothers and David Gilmour. (4.5/5)

11. "Dreams of Fancy" (9:37) combining riffs that are familiar from old classic rock songs as well as the band's own repertoire, they create a kind of hodge-podge LED ZEPPELIN song. (Think "The Rain Song.") Poor lyrics, poor singing, nice melody in the chorus. Letting Reine Fiske loose in the instrumental sections is the highlight. (17/20)

12. "The Dowser" (2:46) strummed electrified guitars with two vocalists singing in harmony. Nice. Beautiful chorus. Almost CSN&Y. (4.75/5)

13. "Like Chrome" (5:03) heavy BEATLES-like start before turning pure XTC! In the middle when we hit the instrumental section, it gets heavier before returning to the Andy Partridge stuff. Interesting! (8.5/10)

Total Time 84:51

85 minutes is a long sitting. I was prepared to dislike or be bored by this album (How much new and fresh music can a band come up with over 31 years and 24 studio albums?), but the sound is so good, the band so tight (especially the drums!), and the instrumental choices and weaves still so creative and fresh that one can't help but like it. Some of the songs here are more oriented toward the lyrics than I'm used to hearing from Motorpsycho; when I listen to Motorpsycho it's not the lyrics I'm listening to but the music. The sound engineering on this album is fine, the music polished if starting to sound somewhat repetitive of stuff they've done previously.

B+/4.5 stars; a near-masterpiece of progressive rock music. Despite containing some absolutely stunning pieces, there is too much music being rehashed here.

Well, the last of Motorpsycho's Gullvåg trilogy comes about in 2020's string of excellent prog rock releases, from Wobbler's Dwellers Of The Deep, to Haken's (badly timed) Virus. I gotta say, even in the wake of some amazing releases from that year, Motorpsycho managed to excel greatly with this album, to the point where it ended off their trilogy with a bang, and dare I say set a standard for future releases the band goes about.

I heard a reviewer by the name of Notes Review describe this record as 3 albums in one, and I'd actually agree with that statement, though I think it is actually 2 EPs and 1 album rolled into one complete package, kinda like how Angels And Daemons At Play did its album structure, but here it feels a bit more of a conceptual idea, rather than a release structure idea. However, what is found here on each half of this record is some fantastic prog rock. The first four tracks of The All Is One, The Same Old Rock, The Magpie, and Delusion are a lot more psychedelic in tone and structure, similar to their stuff from the 2000s, but with a lot more polish that I really enjoy. I love the arrangements and jams they express with these songs, with each having these nuggets of great moments that just makes me eat these songs up. My favorite has to be Magpie, especially that intro that starts quiet then bursts into this very wild and fun jam that I really love, and gives me some serious Hawkwind vibes, and it just goes off from there in a magnificent montage of sound. All of these tracks are great, and I think showcase a level of brilliance within the band that they've been hitting ever since Little Lucid Moments.

Now, for the half that is like a full album, and that is the N.O.X. suite. Oh boy do I just love this song. Each of the Gullvåg trilogy has these songs that I just can't get enough of. Ship Of Fools from The Tower, Psychotzar from The Crucible, and here, in The All Is One, it is the entirety of this 40+ minute jam. Where the first half of this record was a lot more rooted in psych rock, this is the band taking what worked from The Death Defying Unicorn, and making it entirely new with a higher focus on jamming and space rock inflections. There are several things I can talk about in this one song. For starters I just love the build and drive this song has and goes through. The momentum never quite stops, and, while on occasion it does slow down, it always rises back up in inventive ways, so that it never becomes boring. It is like a range of mountains, as each moment you climb and fall then climb again, and I think this mountainous journey represents this giant suite of music quite amazingly. I also just love the second half of this with the parts of Night Of Pan and Circles Around The Sun Part 2. Night Of Pan is this rising shift in sound and energy throughout 15 minutes, and it is honestly quite grueling, but in a way that it just works out in the band's favor, because afterwards you just get punched in the gut with Circles Around The Sun Part 2, which I think is one of the best endings in any Motorpsycho epic, reprising the first part, and just creating this wild, freakshow session that caps this whole thing off so masterfully in my opinion. Lastly, what I love about this suite is that in the last part, the lyrics make mention of The Tower, the first part in the Gullvåg trilogy, and that reference honestly just heightens this song's enjoyment for me ten fold. Just those little things can make an already amazing song into a legendary one. I think if there is one reason why you should listen to this record, it is definitely N.O.X. as it is such a great song of prog rock proportions.

The last half is similar to the first, with songs taking a psychedelic twist in the prog sphere, but I do notice that half of them are a bit more quiet compared to the first four songs, which I think gives it a unique flavor. Pretty much what my praises for the first half can be directly attributed to here as well.

It must be really hard to be Motorpsycho and never miss when you make prog rock. Not only have they made a very inventive string of albums that are all masterpieces, but set an example of how to effectively, and masterfully combine psychedelic and space rock structures and jams to your progressive rock music that, on a few occasions, I'd say put Pink Floyd or Nektar or Hawkwind to shame. You know the drill, listen to The All Is One as it is a fantastic album in every which way.

I have to say I am a fan of the so-called Gullvag trilogy that started with 2017's "The Tower" followed by 2019's "The Crucible" my favourite then this one "The All Is The One" from 2020 that like "The Tower" is about an 85 minute double album. Gullvag is an artist and his works grace these album covers and his work partly inspired the lyrics and music of these three records.

Of the three albums I find this one to be the most adventerous. And it includes over 42 minutes of this suite called "N.O.X." with the first half of it ending disc one and the final half starting disc two. It would have seemd more logical to have it on one disc and the rest on the other but I think they knew that this is the highlight of this recording so lets split it between the two discs. And I do find the music other than "N.O.X" to not be as consistent but it's all good of course.

Some "Death Defying Unicorn" like moments where they drift along early on the first "N.O.X" track called "Circles Around The Sun Pt. 1" but man the violin on here is insane when things turn powerful. Great sound 6 1/2 minutes in when the vocals step aside. And how about that repetitious groove on the second instalment called "Ouroboros" then ending disc one with "Ascension" a FLOYD-like piece. The highlight though might be the first track of disc 2 called "Night Of Pan" continuing with the "N.O.X" suite. I mean it starts out bringing MAGMA to mind when they get locked in a groove like here. I actually felt this way back on the album "Here Be Monsters" with that last track "Big Black Dog". "Circles Around The Sun Pt. 2" ends the suite again a powerful groove here but faster.

There's so much amazing music here along with some not so great stuff but overall a very strong album. I rank this with "Here Be Monsters" and "Ancient Astronauts" as all being so close that I have them all tied for my fifth favourite MOTORPSYCHO record right now. In the liner notes they say "Thanks to: The Psycho's Auxiliary Reine Fiske, Lars Horntveth and Ola Kvernerg for their input into this music- it wouldn't have been this without you guys, we thank you and salute your selfless musicianship as profoundly as we appreciate your friendship!". One of my favourites from 2020.