Anglagard - “Hybris”
Tracks:
- Jordrok (Earthsmoke)
- Vandringar I Vilsenhet (Wanderings in Confusion)
- Ifran Klarhet Till Klarhet (From Strength to Strength)
- Kung Bore (King Winter)
- Ganglat Fran Knapptibble (Marching Tune From Knapptibble)
Thanks to the boys and girls at ProgessiveEars.Com, I was introduced to Anglagard. Though at first it was all talk and hype. Their limited catalog wasn’t in print until about five years ago.
(From left): Mattias Olsson (drums), Thomas Johnson (keyboards), Anna Holmgren (flute), Tord Lindman (guitar, vocals), Jonas Engdegård (guitars), and Johan Högberg (bass).
Anglagard (which roughly translates to “A Farm of Angels”) got together in 1991, in their hometown of Stockholm, Sweden, to try do something progressive and innovative like the music of the early 70’s. “Hybris” was their first album. They recorded one more studio album in 1994, and then played the once famous Progfest in Los Angeles, but broke up soon after. They eventually reformed to play a few festivals in 2003, including NEARFest in Bethlehem, PA, but then went back into hiatus mode.
I actually got a, well lets just say a “not-so-legal” copy of “Epilog” first (to my defense, it was out of print), but for some reason only listened to it once and set it aside. But when I got “Hybris”, I put it in right away and started to listen to it often. I was worried about the hype that followed this band’s reputation wouldn’t live up. In some respects it did, but then again didn’t. There are some that credit Anglagard with the rebirth of progressive rock in the mid 90’s. Overstated obviously, because it was probably bound to happen. They just happened to make a mark and bow for the applause first. Other hype made it seem that one should expect the second coming of King Crimson and Yes combined from their sound. The album isn’t that good. However, minus the hype, it stands on it’s own as a very good, if not great, progressive style rock album.
It does have a lot of the feel of the great early 70’s progressive rock, still with an updated overall sound. Thankfully they use the flute often, not just during softer, slower parts. Sure, there are passages with acoustic guitars playing some nice, slower chords with the flute over the top playing a beautiful melody. But Anglagard like to have the flute hammering along with the main melody. And it’s really sounds good, given that Anglagard sometimes really plays heavy at times.
Of all the most recent bands that have used a Mellotron, I have to say that Anglagard uses it very well. They don’t seem to rehash ideas from the 70’s trying to relive the past. (Though neither does country-mates Anekdoten, but that’s another story.) They use it with their modern sound, and it all fits. Another plus, and I could be wrong, not being familiar with Swedish folk tunes, but there are times when it seems that they are adding a bit of that to their songs. It’s not heavy handed, just the right amount.
The album is mostly instrumental, with “Jordok” being completely instrumental. And what vocals there are, are sung in Swedish. Lindman’s voice sounds good with it, but it’s those instrumental sections that really make this album. All the songs are broken into a few sections, and gives an appearance of being pieced together sometimes, but still they all work very well with each other. With the strength of what they have composed and how it is performed, it far outweighs any problems that it you would think it may cause overall flow. The last song (”Ganglat Fran Knapptibble”) is actually a demo version of a song (with a different title) that showed up on “Epilog”, and wasn’t originally released with this album.
A great exploration and updated sound of the “progressive” style of rock music that we all know and love today.
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