THE CHRONICLES OF FATHER ROBIN

A triple album set is always a risky investment, particularly with the price tag attached with this ambitious conceptual project by The Chronicles of Father Robin. Even more typical triple albums like George Harrison's All Things Must Pass (which is easily the most commercially successful triple album ever), Carla Bley's Escalator on the Hill, and of course Yes' Yessongs and ELP's Welcome Back My Friends will be more spendy than a standard single album (or double albums), but nowhere as cost prohibitive as The Songs & Tales of Airoea. But if you don't want to risk it, or can't afford it, Karisma Records is releasing each disc separately (also on CD for those who don't own a turntable but still want a solid format to listen to it on). So far Karisma has only released the first installment, Book I: The Tales of Father Robin. I originally thought I couldn't afford the box set, but turned out I was able to save money, took the plunge, and bought it, as Karisma Records still had a few unsold copies left. Let me tell you, the packaging is nothing short of amazing. Each vinyl pressed on translucent colored vinyl, each a different cover. It includes a big booklet that tells you the concept, as well as the making of the box set, not to mention the lyrics. It also comes with a map as well, depicting (what else) the land of Airoea. My copy is the second run as the box is not as fat as it doesn't come with a T-shirt. I didn't need the T-shirt anyways as I wouldn't know if it would fit me. It took them nearly 30 years to complete this project. You thought Guns n' Roses took forever to finish and release Chinese Democracy, The Songs & Tales of Airoea takes the cake. I can understand the length, because members became awfully busy with their various bands. The main nuclues of the band was vocalist Andreas Wettergreen Strømmen Prestmo (of Wobbler), drummer Henrik Harmer, and bassist Jon Andre Nilsen. Many more musicians make their appearance here like Lars Fredrik Frøislie (Wobbler, White Willow, In Lingua Mortua), Håkon Oftung (Jordsjø, Tusmørke), Kristoffer Momrak (Tusmørke, Alwanzatar) and many more appear on these three discs. Karisma also states that drummer Martin Nordrum Kneppen of Wobbler and Tusmørke appears, but he doesn't appear on this set, perhaps he played with them live.

OK, so here are the discs: Book I: The Tales of Father Robin I did a review for the separate entry, so see my review there. I totally raved about that disc. It's no doubt the msot keyboard-heavy of the three discs, mainly because Lars Fredrik Frøisle has his presence felt. It's also the heaviest with plenty of metallic guitar riffs, but there's plenty of more calm passages as well for breather time. It also has the lengthiest compositions of any of the three discs, with the re-recorded "Twilight Fields" clocking at over 15 minutes.

Book II: Ocean Traveller Clearly going for a calmer approach as "Over Westwinds" and "Orias and the Underwater City" demonstrates. The latter features some nice use of an early drum machine as well. I like how "Ocean Traveller" picks up with those nice ascending riffs. The latter half of this disc is heavier, but the disc does start deceptively calm with "Lady of Waves", but then it gets more heavy. There a King Crimson feel to "Green Refresments" while the Tull influence is shown on "The Great Riff", with the flute dominating.

Book III: Magical Chroncile "Magical Chornicle" is truly the highlight of this disc, with some great vocal harmonies that were clearly both Yes and Gentle Giant inspired. "Skyslumber" is definitely more calm. Same goes for "Cloudship", but in this case they go for that Yes feel, reminding me of Steve Howe's playing on "And You and I", that and Jon Anderson's Olias of Sunhillow. "Empress of the Sun" and "Lost in the Pace Gardens" are more lively, with the latter having a bit of that 1960s folk influence.

There is a lot of music to absorb here, but it's amazing with a triple album that there were no boring parts. That's because when you take 30 years to make an album (or three in this case) you get time to record and pick out the best The concept is better described by others, it's best to read the booklet if you own the box set. So for average collectors, get each installment as they come, but the music is great and it's certainly one of the great retro Norwegian albums.

The Chronicles of Father Robin are a band that dates back to the inception of Scandinavia's modern prog scene. (The Nordic countries also put out some good material in the 1970s, but bands like Kaipa, Friendship Time, and Haikara don't have much of a direct connection to the modern scene.) Originally formed in 1993, they made plans for a sprawling triple album built around one unifying story thread. Nothing came of it at the time, and the band members went on to be in major acts, like Wobbler, Tusmørke, and Jordsjø, among others. Now, nearly 30 years later, the band has reunited.

The Songs & Chronicles of Airoea - Book 1 is the first part of this planned three-part album arc. Multi-album story arcs are nothing new to me, not that I ever give much mind to lyrics. I am curious to hear just how musically cohesive this project winds up being across subsequent releases. I'm hoping it'll be something a bit more interesting than just the same album three times over, but only time will tell.

Book 1 is a little slow to get going. It opens with a pair of introductory tracks that barely crack a minute. "Prologue" is a completely unnecessary 66 seconds of the ambient sounds of someone walking through the woods, and "The Tale of Father Robin" is hokey Dungeons & Dragons-sounding expository barding. 

"Eleison Forest", the first real song, makes up for that hokum in its opening seconds. A flurry of organ and flute resolves into an anxious passage driven along with tight bass and eerie Mellotron textures. As the song progresses, the band maintains tension, and I like their contrasts of folky elements like acoustic guitar and flute with swirling organ and interstellar synth licks. I need to praise their guitarist for his electric passages on this song, which are ragged and biting and aggressive; he calls to mind Steve Howe's best work without blatantly aping him.

As this cut plunges forward, there are some majestic wordless vocals supported by rich, Wakeman-esque synthesizers. There are some powerful, surprisingly heavy passages that I was happy to hear, and it all ends on an excellent revisitation of the opening organ line.

"The Death of the Fair Maiden" opens with an unexpectedly bouncy, danceable groove paired with a folky guitar line. The eventual verse is much quieter and more sedate. This cut focuses on the gradual building of tension, and it's mostly effective (It does drag a bit at moments, but it's hardly unforgivable.) The final two minutes see the band burst into something more fiery, and it reminds me a lot of the sudden explosion at the end of Camel's "Lady Fantasy".

The 15-minute "Twilight Fields" follows. It first begins as a slow, plodding piece with some creepy undertones. Flute and an increasing tempo build the tension, and it all leads to a gentle verse with delicate vocals. The occasional swell of guitar and keys keeps this otherwise-deliberate song interesting, and multilayered vocals are deployed well at points too. 

Around this cut's midpoint, it shifts from primarily acoustic to electric, and dense walls of organ play wonderfully against some coarse guitar chords. The second half features a lot of musical ideas, ranging from lurching to peppy to eerie. There are a lot of cool riffs and themes, but it can come across as more disjointed and random, rather than purposefully-sprawling.

This album ends with "Unicorn". It's got another folky opening, built around acoustic guitar and flute. This folkiness continues into the verse, but there are also some neat, wobbly synth embellishments that I like a lot. This song ends strong. Its final 90 seconds are a chaotic storm of crushing guitars and dramatic vocals, but it took its sweet time getting to the climax. I'd like this song a lot more if it were about two minutes shorter.

Before this summer, I'd never heard of this abortive supergroup, so it's not like I'd been dying to hear something from this collective for decades. That said, knowing the musicians' backgrounds, I definitely went into this with certain expectations. The sound is most akin to that of Wobbler, and that's what I figured this would be. This release is better than Wobbler's last couple albums, due to the relative internal diversity, and it feels much more inspired by classic prog, rather than being a knock-off. That said, there's still some noticeable bloat here, which drags things down. It's also not worth the 14 Euros the band wants for this?no digital album of this length is, in my eyes.

Review originally posted here: theeliteextremophile.com/2023/10/09/album-review-the-chronicles-of-father-robin-the-songs-tales-of-airoea-book-1/

Originally released as a three LP box set, Karisma is releasing each disc separately, starting with this one, Book I: The Tales of Father Robin. Karisma realized the box set can be a bit spendy for some. This review is for the first part, obviously as this was all I got to hear from buying the LP and downloading it on Bandcamp. Turns out I was able to save up for the box set, Karisma has a few unsold copies and I bought it. Hearing all the raving like from Scot Lade from Prog Corner on Youtube, I had to check it out. For one thing, members of Wobbler, Tusmørke, and Jordsjø are on this project, as well as members of Samuel Jackson Five, which I'm not familiar with but the other three I am very familiar with as I have most of the albums they've done. Now being familiar with the whole set, it's clear this is by far the heaviest, most aggressive of the three, not to mention most keyboard-dominated as Lars Fredrik Frøislie has his presence felt and he appears to be absent on the other two. To be fair the main nucleus of The Chronicles of Father Robin is Andreas Wettergreen Strømmen Prestmo, Jon Andre Nilsen, and Henrik Harmer, with other members coming and going, since this did take 30 years to make. This first installment is so incredibly mindblowing that I'm in disbelief. This could very well be the greatest retro prog album to come out of Norway (and I'm hoping the next two installments are just as great). "Prologue" is basically the sound of wind and rain, and some slight background music. "The Tale of Father Robin" is a nice but very brief folk-influenced number, which will hardly prepare you with what comes next: full on lengthy and complex symphonic prog of the first order. "Eleison Forest" is simply incredible and intense, I really dig that organ part that starts the album and hear periodically throughout. There are reminders of Wobbler, hardly surprising that Lars Fredrik Frøislie provides keyboards and Andreas Wettergreen Strømmen Prestmo provides vocals. The music is simply packed with great analog keyboards including the Mellotron and Hammond organ. "Twilight Fields" is the lengthiest piece on the album and the King Crimson influence shows up as some of guitar riffs reminds me of "Larks Tongues in Aspic Part II". There are plenty of Wobbler-ish moves as well. "Unicorn" is perhaps the closest to the Rites at Dawn-era Wobbler sound as I get that similar mood. I am not too surprised about the Wobbler similarities any more than Lars Fredrik Frøislie's solo venture Fire Fortellinger. I also notice the occasional Yes, Gentle Giant and Jethro Tull moves on this album. Also, what really blew me away was these guys remembered why there is "rock" in "prog rock" as it actually rocks, with plenty of heavy guitar riffs that make me think of those heavier Italian prog bands (but without sounding like them) such as Semiramis, Osanna, Museo Rosenbach, J.e.t., Biglietto per L'Inferno and the likes. This three-disc project was apparently 30 years in the making, and when it was finally completed, it was crowdfunded and it was released. But realizing the box set was a bit spendy for many, Karisma is releasing these separately, as mentioned already. I really not only think this is the best prog I've heard post- 1978, this is just as great as anything from the classic era. This should bound to be a classic, as far as I'm concerned. While it's not recommended to throw five stars at everything, this deserves it!

This is apparently the culmination of the machinations of a bunch of high school chums in Norway. The individuals, however, took 30 years of side roads on their way to the realization of their Chronicles of Father Robin plans.

1. "Prologue" (1:06) recorded noises from a seaside park--with cars going by on the highway behind and gentle seashore wave sounds, finishing off with close-up sounds of feet shuffling through beach stone before entering a cabin and shutting the door and, thus, the outside sounds.

2. "The Tale of Father Robin" (1:16) a little poetic folk intro that sounds like something that would come from a group of itenerant minstrels at the beginning of one of their ad hoc street performances. (4.333/5)

3. "Eleision Forest" (11:57) Very pleasant, broad folk-rock soundscape with unusually delicate upper register male vocals coming from the lead story teller. The heavier Uriah Heep-like spacer-motif is not as pleasant or fitting, but I love all of the elf- and fairy-like incidental voices and instrumental inputs coming from all sides of the broad soundstage. A chorus of vocalise backed by standard four-chord rock music begins at 4:50--also facilitating a nice synth solo over the myriad other instruments filling the field. The music--especially that coming from the rhythm section--is surprisingly simple and straightforward (as was somewhat common in the early era of progressive rock). The lead vocalist begins to sound more WOBBLER-like before the heavier rock motif supports a wild flute and other folkie instrumental free-for-all. The ninth minute again uses fairly simple, almost Led Zeppelin and/or Neil Young song structures to support a very loose jam of multiple instruments. Piano and organ with delicately strummed and picked acoustic guitar are featured with multiple sprite-like folk voices over the next bucolic passage until 10:20 when another "old rock" jam passage ensues (feeling/sounding like very early YES). Howe-like lead guitar with Wakeman-like organ play take us to the end--which is as slow fade. A song that captures the bohemian spirit of the late 1960s and early 1970s but is a little too wild and loose for me. (22/25)

4. "The Death of the Fair Maiden" (8:03) a CAMEL opening turns into a spacious Pink FLOYDIAN style over which myriad loosely-associated vocalists sing their medi'val-sounding folk-hippy lyrics. This sounds so much like those very first Wobbler albums: Hinterland and Afterglow, while the drums sound more like Rites at Dawn. The big difference between this music and Wobbler's is the (intentional, I think) looseness of both the playing and engineering: it's much more jam oriented than Wobbler's very precisely contrived musics--not unlike CAMEL. I also hear some of the old Stephen Stills-like frenzied guitar soloing in Andreas' soloing as I used to in the Rites at Dawn album. A nice song that really breings little new or exciting to the table other than the unusual (and wonderful) "loose" vocal array. (13.33333/15)

5. "Twilight Fields" (15:24) in this very WOBBLER-sounding song (I guess it's unavoidable with Wobbler's principle vocalist, Andreas Wettergreen Str'mman Prestmo, performing the lead vocals) I hear a lot of the NEKTAR sound and psychedelia with a bit more King CRIMSON dissonance and angularity. It's as if we're observing from the woods around an open glade in which some Pagan wizard is throwing together spell over a midnight cauldron. The stuff that folklore is made of (or the folklore that prog is made of). A song that evokes some very interesting imagery but ultimately fails to satisfy or bring me back for more. (26.25/30)

6. "Unicorn" (8:29) again we are definitely conjuring up a Nature scene with this slack-paced music. From the start it feels as if a group of friends are sitting around a fire pit in the gentle September night air, each picking up an instrument and then picking or tinkering away: sometimes synchronized and attuned, even entrained, but mostly playing from within their own private universes. Then the seventh minute arrives and, with it, the musicians become quite serious--as if the coherence of their collective jam holds some kind of protective or energetic power to ward off intruders/ill-wishers. This motif plays out to the song's finish and leaves me feeling very agitated and abandoned--as if the song and album are not properly completed. I really enjoyed and feel peacefully transported by the first six minutes, but the abrasive music of the final 2:40 leaves me cold and disquieted. Too bad. (17.75/20)

Total Time 46:15

Music that to my ears sound like a version of Wobbler that is even more intrenched in and imitative of the prog masters of the 1970s. Overall, I LOVE the primeval, pre-Industrial feel to the music and its subject matter; the songs feel as if they are created and performed out-of-doors in communal cooperation or for community entertainment and escapism--as in the harsh and fragile day-to-days of the untamed Middle Ages.

B/four stars; an excellent album of retro-folk rock that will please and feed many prog lovers.

Norway Rocks Again!

i've been anticipating this album since the beggining, mainly because lars fredrik is in it, and i absolutely love his work And lars fredrik here made an absolutely fantastic work with keyboards, as aways, mainly on "Eleision Forest" which is by the way the track that was released to tease the album, this album is a strong candidate to the best album of this year!

A Fantastic work very remniscent of 70's prog just like wobbler and lars fredrik works, specially yes (which is an awesome thing)

i cannot wait to see the other two albums that are going to be released (or books, like the band calls them)

Strongly recommend, specially if you're a fan of the good old 70's prog just like me!

4.5 stars. I find this fascinating that in a High School in Norway in 1995 the idea for a Father Robin trilogy was conceived. Shelved obviously for various reasons but the core trio were part of a band called FANGORN around this time(mid 90's) named after that Lord Of The Rings character. This trio didn't release an album but did record some music. I'm not familiar with the bass player or drummer from that band but the singer Andreas Wettergreen Stromman Prestmo we all know as the current WOBBLER singer. The man has a golden voice and is a multi- instrumentalist and knows his way around the studio. THE CHRONICLES OF FATHER ROBIN is his baby. He arranged, produced and wrote the music for this EP.

I was going to say that this EP was a teaser for the studio album but ten years is beyond being a teaser. The title track on this EP is on that forthcoming studio album to be released next month, while the second track "The Ritual Of The Beneficial Ancestor" is only found here. So we get that FANGORN trio plus a flute/electric piano player and the lead guitarist for THE SAMUEL JACKSON FIVE. Big fan of that band by the way and while they play modern Post-Rock clearly this guitarist is into the Retro music played here. And Lars Fredrik Froisile is here! He only plays on that 16 plus title track but he brings it as he usually does. Organ, mellotron, chamberlin, clavinet and more. The man has more weapons then the U.S. Army.

"Twilight Fields" is haunting to start as organ comes out of the atmosphere with some dark lines. It kicks into a full sound before a minute as the organ cries out. We get calms throughout as contrasts and Andreas graces us with his voice and he sings in different styles. Some experimental moments and of course mellotron! That second track is more of a soundscape especially early on which surprised me the first time I heard it. Flute comes and goes with no real melody in sight. A darker sound 3 minutes in then it starts to move but slowly at first before settling back again. Headphone music.

I am excited for the first studio album by this band and certainly this EP has a lot to do with that. Hakon from JORDSJO while not on this EP will be on the studio album among others not present here.

This was first released as a very limited 12" EP in only 300 copies back in 2013 ! And oh boy what an EP. Side A is Twilight Fields, and i now realize this version is slighly longer and sounds slightly different in terms of mix. Side B was sadly exclusive to this 12" BUT, if you go to father robin dot com, you can buy a digital version, to support the band. It is a very ambient vibey tune and a nice companion to the Twilight Fields ! What more is there to say besides this is Norways Best New Band 2023 !? Fans of Wobbler and all kinds of classic 70s Prog, should jump into this EP asap ! It is available on bandcamp as a stream/buy download, and the B Side you can get as told, or search around soundcloud if you only need to hear it. Its worth it, trust me !! So while many still waits the Trilogy, This is a perfect introduction to Father Robin !!! Or are the band called The Chronichle of Father Robin, or is this just the title of the Box, Who knows ?! Go listen now !!! 5/5. ez !!!!!!!!

This was first released as a very limited 12" EP in only 300 copies back in 2013 ! And oh boy what an EP. Side A is Twilight Fields, and i now realize this version is slighly longer and sounds slightly different in terms of mix. Side B was sadly exclusive to this 12" BUT, if you go to father robin dot com, you can buy a digital version, to support the band. It is a very ambient vibey tune and a nice companion to the Twilight Fields ! What more is there to say besides this is Norways Best New Band 2023 !? Fans of Wobbler and all kinds of classic 70s Prog, should jump into this EP asap ! It is available on bandcamp as a stream/buy download, and the B Side you can get as told, or search around soundcloud if you only need to hear it. Its worth it, trust me !!

So while many still waits the Trilogy, This is a perfect introduction to Father Robin !!! Or are the band called The Chronichle of Father Robin, or is this just the title of the Box, Who knows ?!

go listen now !!! 5/5. ez !!!!!!!!

The indicator that progressive rock is in good hands and that inspiration for creating timeless and high-quality music will never disappear is definitely the project The Chronicles of Father Robin, which was formed back in 1993 at a time when prog rock was experiencing a rebirth. Andreas Wettergreen Strømman Prestmo, Jon André Nilsen and Henrik Harmer formed the band and that's when the story and creation of the basis and concept for the Father Robin trilogy begins. So before us are people who have shown their power to create incredible prog rock in bands like Wobbler, Tusmørke, Jordsjø and The Samuel Jackson Five. YES, the cream of the Norwegian scene is together and they have created something that is simply unforgettable. The very mention of these bands already gives an idea of what to expect, but believe me, you will get much more, here the mix between symphonic prog, folk, heavy prog, jazz and eclecticism takes on a new meaning, music that is not from this world, but a divine journey through mystical lands. This is a supergroup where different styles converge in search of an original musical language. Original, complex and extremely particular in the melodic/harmonic textures, this musical story consists of three parts: Book I - The Tale of Father Robin (State of Nature), Book II - Ocean Traveler (Metamorphosis) and Book III - Magical Chronicle (Ascension).

The arrangements are fantastic, very rich in variations and with a continuous use of a multitude of instruments. The space "granted" to the musicians is often resolved in fugues and continuous interventions that give color and atmosphere to the compositions, as if they were a game of mirrors that change the perspective, or small doors that open onto small secret rooms, one behind the other, along the way.

The music is supported by a marvelous acoustic guitar from which arpeggios of extraordinary beauty and the inevitable sweet sound of the flute spring; subsequently the inspired main themes unfold on which the various members of the group try their hand, especially on the fabulous keyboards. Hymn-like passages with a good deal of pathos and bombast stand alongside filigree, fragile, lyrical moments. You always discover something new with every new listen and depending on your mood, you can always experience the album anew. Not only that the musicians manage to push the boundaries of time in such a way that it is almost impossible to assign this album to a musical era, but they also manage to reconstruct and adapt the essence of their influences and create a formidable brew from it with ease. From the musical point of view, we can hear the quintessence of what can be considered the best European prog, with some references to the great classics of the past and that brilliant Scandinavian prog of the 90s. The perfection of the construction of the album in this case is expressive, clear and shocking. It is presented continuously, very complicated, with tempo changes and brilliant openings. The expressive verb is that of progressive "in purity", without contamination: instrumental sound alchemy, brilliant and mystical texts, evoked with various keyboards, guitar refinements, pulsations, rhythms with odd times which, even if handled with dexterity and skill, never yields emotion to virtuosity as an end in itself.

There are frequent changes of rhythm, tempo, or mood - the band passes smoothly from stronger fragments, sometimes with a dissonant texture, to subtle moments, played in perfect harmony (and vice versa). And with all this diversity, also resulting from the band's extensive inspirations, they managed to create an extremely coherent work, perfectly thought out in every respect. At the same time, there is no unnecessary prolongation, dragging one thread for too long, or unnecessary sounds. There is no shortage of delightful moments when the instrumentalists climb to the heights of their performance skills, present interesting arrangement ideas, or show the ability to create really neat melodies.

Somewhere at the crossroads of psychedelic rock and prog at the end of the sixties, the classic period of the seventies, and the brilliance of prog in the nineties, this concept lies. Various keyboards bring precise and fantastic sounds that merge into one perfect whole and represent the main support in creating magical atmospheres. Andreas, as he does now in Wobbler, tells his tales fantastically, a vocalist who is definitely the best at telling a prog story. Emotion, strength, everything works at the highest level. The rhythm section goes right to the point, everything is in place, and the bass, in addition to grounding and supporting heavy moments, flows quite melodically through this album.

Convulsive and vigorous passages follow one another, the tempos when necessary are complex, and the bass and guitar riffs are powerful. Electric chords are also the excellence of the band. The guitar riffs in the compositions are always sharp, and alienating, calculating every compositional choice down to the second. The clear influence of local folklore combined with psychedelic and progressive sounds is like a spiritual affinity and from time to time creates a pastoral mood. The album delivers beautiful melody lines, chromatically sequenced chord accompaniment, and complicated arrangements. Despite the folk influences, there is no shallow tinkling, precisely because the whole thing was dressed in a brilliant prog rock robe. Most importantly: everything is skilfully interconnected, so conceptually thought out and properly arranged.

"Eleision Forest" in 12 minutes represents an incredible marriage of folk, hard rock and calibrated virtuosity intersecting to generate "mutant" structures, which look straight in the direction of the finest progressive rock. A rocking midtempo sustains the vocal harmonies, while the bass exudes lush, creative lines. A type of ballad that then transforms into a choral ride, driven by sharp rhythm guitars, dynamic, powerful and imaginative flute and bass harmonies. The instrumental sections and in particular the keyboard and guitar rise as real protagonists of the composition, together with that indefinable atmosphere that permeates the composition. "The Death Of The Fair Maiden" is a majestic, truly soothing composition which is mainly shaped by the elegant guitar which is often found in dialogue with the lush keyboard. Here we have the genetic predisposition to the "melodic side" of progressive: The focus is on fairy and elusive atmospheres, opting for a jazz-rock language, whose result is a music of elegant melancholy. Fifteen minutes of the "Twilight Fields" immediately make it clear that the band has accentuated its dark and heavy soul, through plots that, however, do not lose an ounce of dynamism. The vocal harmonies counterbalance this weighting, creating an engaging emotional light-dark passage. The epic and pressing raids of the instruments, with a percussive background gradually become the real noise of the soul and are opposed to the intimate and solitary phase, illuminated with melancholic light. The dramatic phrasing on the guitar transports us to corners of the mind that have never been explored. The arrangement and production of this work is impressive, and the composition "Green Refreshments" would be enough to demonstrate it: Flute, keyboards, eclectic guitar, bass and drums appear on the scene simultaneously and ominously. A sense of elusive lightness slowly creeps in, only to open the door to sudden explosions of acidity. The track is a journey, and it aims at captivating atmospheres consisting of hypnotic melodies and the purest progressive frenzy, but everything is presented as an organic union, both from a conceptual and compositional point of view. There is also room for dynamic and bombastic progressive rock, in this indescribable achievement. A small dose of avant-garde simply draws you into the world of brilliant sonic explosions, where rhythms are elaborated in crescendo, sometimes starting slowly and then exploding in delirious endings. A great example of this is the track "Unicorn". Jazzy but decidedly less frigid, melodic, but capable of lively turns, "Magical Chronicle" is presented by the perfect Canterbury influence. Same as in the mentioned song, the next one "Skyslumber" is also presented in a similar vein, everything transmits sensations and images that drag you into the dreamy valley that probably each of us would always like to visit. We are faced with a psychedelic origin skilfully supported by the entire band, but in the end, it is precisely the Canterbury style that dominates here. A truly fantastic psych prog ride is presented to us in "Empress Of The Sun", powerful passages with groovy sounds and a stormy guitar alternate with lyrical sequences accompanied by a keyboard and a fantastic rhythm section that marches phenomenally and emphasizes every part.

The band shines with all the colors of the musical rainbow: from subtle folk, marked by the sounds of the flute, to heavy prog, from the fast and dancing rhythm section to the slow and majestic Hammond organ and other keyboards. Compositions that are dressed in a lot more folky, sometimes even medieval influences, are arranged in a multi-layered manner, one is hardly overwhelmed thanks to the solidity of what is presented and the crystal-clear, organic production, but instead invites one to linger in this fascinating dream world. These compositions have something strangely dreamlike about them due to the tendency to go on musical wanderings through unreal soundscapes and also somewhat jazzy influences. In these moments the result is a totally deeply relaxed soundscape that never reveals any aggressive or harsh sounds. There is no boredom, because interesting and unusual elements loosen up the melancholic mood, and sometimes almost happy-sounding melodies contrast with the contemplative-dreamy atmosphere, which in no way appears depressive.

The album ranges widely from dark to light and vice versa, offering brilliant moments and other introspective ones- Above everything flies the irrepressible and communicative expressiveness of the vocalist, whose voice guides the entire story and undeniably gives one of the strongest trademarks of the album. Despite the fact that here we have a lot of music to listen to, the accessibility of this concept is remarkably large. This is mainly due to the richness of the thematic material because no matter how long the songs last, an important degree of structure remains. TCOFR step on the gas, rise to hymn-like bombast, but also set lyrical, atmospheric accents. All in all a very colorful, diverse revival of classic prog in a contemporary sound guise.