NOVUM AURORA

Sweden has become world's number one high quality music factory in so many genres, it's simply overwhelming? there's not enough time to catch up with all the great stuff coming out from the Nordic country. Time Dwellers and their studio debut Novum Aurora faithfully represent that proliferation, and it makes me happy when I encounter musical gems like this one.

A heavy Prog power trio comprised of Kristofer Stjernquist on vocals, bass, rhythm guitar, synths and Mellotron, Martin Fairbanks on lead guitar and backing vocals, and Henrik Bergman on drums, percussion and backing vocals?. Extraordinary!

The opener song "Rising: Dawn / Awakening / Metamorphosis" should be enough to convince anyone of the enormous quality of this band, so symphonic and groovy, wonderful song! Then comes an odd ball, as odd as St. Tropez is to Meddle, "At Least We Are Having Fun" is to this album, but great and perfect as well? love the folky instrumentation and the vocal melodies, so damn catchy? they are definitely having fun. "Seasons Change" is darker and heavier, like a Prog sounding Sabbath, without abandoning the melodic blueprint, the guitar work by Fairbanks just gets better by the minute, I need to check out his previous work with The Graviators? any suggestions?

"What is About to Happen?"? It's obvious, The Apocalypse is what's about to happen? and this is how it sounds? dark, sludgy, off, disastrous, psychedelic, retro, but it happens in such a well-crafted manner? what a tandem of songs, what a clever move, one of the many highlights of this album. The instrumental "Surfing With Greta" sets the tone to a more hopeful and positive mood, like when something resets and restarts, and now the settings are a little brighter. "You Are The Sun" is a beautiful piece of music with a no less beautiful set of lyrics, a song that sounds slightly more modern than the rest of the album, almost grungy at times, but still manages to keep the retro look and feel of the output? the guitar licks are outstanding and the instrumental section hypnotic as hell! And there's time for more greatness, a song that rounds up (and wraps up) the journey? and nope, there's no Mike Oldfield here? but it does sound from that early 70's era, smartly combined with more modern arrangements and instrumentation, however the vocal harmonies are in charge of reminding the listener of the obvious musical influences for the power trio. it's a shame I wasn't aware of this album before I put my best of 2022 list together, it deserved a high spot there for sure? but what a way to kick off 2023 for me! Highly recommended, cheers!