Melancholic heavy swedish symphonic rock
Cervello | 09/01/2005
(4 out of 5 stars)
"The debut album by swedish band Anekdoten is a loud and relentless affair, but in the end its very satisfiying. The King Crimson sound is of course very noticeable, the powerful mellotron and the distored rickenbacker bass. But what counts is as always, the ability to write good songs. And the majority of the tracks here are really good and also quite varied in tone. The mellotron sound comes on as a dark endless rain, and the powerful drumming proves more than enough. Having seen this album live, I know how impressive their sound really can be, and this album is one good place to start to explore more of "the new swedish wave of progressive rock". This is the way symphonic rock should and could sound. So loud and expressive, without being (too much) copycats of other bands. Bands like Anekdoten and Änglagård for sure ranks way, way higher than other so called "progressive" bands from the 90's, at least in my catalogue."
A great album foreshadowing better things to come.
D. Tonya | Barber-tucky, Ohio | 04/21/2006
(4 out of 5 stars)
"WOW. That just about sums it up. I'm a big fan of early King Crimson, especially the sound of the melotrons, odd time signatures, jazzy drumming, and melodic dissonance. They definitely show their roots as a King Crimson cover band, which some might hold against them. However, I also noticed a lot of Nothingface era Voivod in their music, especially the bass playing. The drumming is excellent and really fits the music well. The vocals are nothing special, but considerably better than the vocals on the King Crimson albums Red and Starless and Bible Black. If you pick up their subsequent releases you can hear how they develop their own style and discover why many consider them one of the premier progressive rock bands in the world.
If you're an early Crimson fan, I can't see how you wouldn't love this album. It is just about a perfect extension of that vein of music. My first listening to this album had me hooked and each subsequent listening only makes me want to listen to it again! Highly recommend, if not utterly essentially in any KC fan's collection."
