Anekdoten

Nicklas Berg - Bass
Jan Erik Liljeström - Drums
Peter Nordins - Guitar, Vocals
Anna Sofi Dahlberg - vocal

   Anekdoten are a four piece from Sweden. Vemod was recorded early during said year, and from what I've heard, they are highly regarded by, among others, their countrymen Änglagård. What do they sound like? Well, in one word, heavy. When I started in on the 3rd track I thought I was listening to Ruins! They are also quite dark, not unlike Änglagård, or Kultivator, or even Il Balleto di Bronzo. Perhaps the sound they evoke the most though is that of mid-period King Crimson, especially Red and some of those wild improvs on The Great Deciever live box set. The instrumentation is, if I recall correctly, guitar/mellotron/vocals, cello/mellotron/vocals, bass, and drums. This accounts for a lot of the Crimson similarities, but beyond that the harmonies and melodic intervals they use recall KC, as well as Änglagård and maybe even a little French zeuhl. They have a heavy bass sound, and the guitarist does often sound like Fripp, both in tone and style, even going so far as to cop a few Fripp licks in his solos.

    Heavy, driving fuzzbass (Rickenbacker plus distortion) combine with intelligent Frippian guitar and a good dose of mellotron on this debut from a Swedish quartet who are cohorts with Änglagård. Recorded in the same studio with the same engineer as Änglagård, this music sounds more like mid-period Crimson than any other modern prog band I've heard. The bassist and drummer play off each other very well, creating a hard driving rhythmic propulsion for which the guitars can scream, sing and riff over, while mellotrons and/or cello fill in the sonic space to create a truly massive sound. The songwriting lacks the maturity of Änglagård, but is satisfying nevertheless. While the album has plenty of dynamic contrast among songs, there isn't enough contrast within each of the songs themselves. After you get half way through a tune, you can be fairly sure where its going from there.





Diskografia:

1993 Vemod

Karelia [7:20]
The Old Man & The Sea [7:50]
Where Solitude Remains [7:20]
Thoughts In Absence [4:10]
The Flow [6:58]
Longing [4:50]
Wheel [7:50]

1995Nucleus

Nucleus [5:08]
Harvest [6:50]
Book Of Hours [9:58]
Pendulum Swing
The Book Raft [0:58]
Rubankh [3:07]
Here [7:23]
This Far From The Sky [8:47]
In Freedom [6:27]


1998 Official Bootleg - Live In Japan

Karelia
The Old Man & The Sea
Harvest
Slow Fire
Thoughts In Absence
Road To Nowhere
Book Of Hours
The Flow
Groundbound
Where Solitude Remains
Wheel
Tabatah
Nucleus
Rubankh, Part 1 & 2

1999 From Within

From Within [7:25]
Kiss Of Life [4:40]
Groundbound [5:24]
Hole [11:08]
Slow Fire [7:26]
Firefly [4:49]
The Sun Absolute [6:39]
For Someone [3:30]