Anglagard - Epilog +Album Reviews

Hard to believe, but they delivered another masterpiece

BENJAMIN MILER | Veneta, Oregon | 11/13/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Änglagård sure worked hard to get themselves recognized in the prog rock community. They got to perform at Progfest '93 (the first one) in Los Angeles, and gave the previously unknown band tons of recognition. Two years after the release of the landmark Hybris, they released their followup, Epilog. Will they give us the sophomore slump? Not at all, in fact I think this album is even better than Hybris. There is a bit of a more classical feel to it, no doubt helped by the presence of cello. Unlike Hybris, there are a couple of short pieces that serve as preludes to the lengthy prog epics that are to come. The short pieces tend to be simply pieces played on piano or cello. The lengthy cuts are much like Hybris, only with an even more developed sound. The loud passages suddenly become quiet and vice versa, only it seems like the quiet passages seem to last longer. The Mellotron and Hammond organ are used just as proudly as their previous album. The band played as an ensemble, once again, to avoid solos or giving anyone an ego boost. Unfortunately the band broke up not too long after this album and their performance at Progfest '94 (which was documented on the album Buried Alive). I guess the reason for their breakup was they knew they probably could never live up to the high expectations that they gave us with their two albums if they were to release a third album. But no matter what, Epilog is another truly essential prog album."

Disappointed

Lord Chimp | 01/28/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"For years I had been hearing all the buzz about Anglagard. In 2000, I was able to score a copy of their debut, Hybris, on Ebay for under 20 bucks. (Hybris was routinely going for $25 on Ebay). I LOVED Hybris; it had all the prog ingredients I dig - mellotron, Rick bass, angular guitar, Bruford-like drumming, touch of flute, and lots of dynamics. Since then, I have had my eye out for Epilog, and apparently it is hard to come by, as another reviewer mentioned.So you can imagine my joy when I learned of the new re-issues! But my joy quickly turned to disappointment. This just doesn't measure up to Hybris. Epilog is all-instrumental while Hybris had vocals, and even though the singing was in Swedish, and not all that great, it still sounded like it belonged in the music. Something is lacking for me without the vocals.Plus, it's a short album to begin with, and when you take into account that several of the tracks are just boring solo pieces on piano or cello that serve as interludes to the longer tracks, you're not left with a whole lot of music for your money. The parts where the whole band does ensemble playing are very good, as expected, but it still doesn't seem as compelling to these ears, as the ensemble playing on Hybris.While Hybris kept me riveted, Epilog leaves me bored for a good deal of the album. Wish it weren't so, but I have to be honest...."

Melancholy masterpiece of modern prog-rock

Uri Breitman | Tel Aviv, Israel | 01/30/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This effort is different from the Hybris project, Anglagard's previous album. The style is less cheerful, and requires careful listening. It's a game of contrasts, really - the music is highly dynamic (fast-slow-fast, loud-slow-loud), and the musicians worked on complicated compositions.
This album is less "prog-rocky" than before, but it's more mature, deeper and more demanding. The recording quality is better than Hybris, the playing is tighter, and the special studio effects are masterful. The new digipak version has nice pictures and booklet, but the audio quality sounds the same to me. I'd recommend this to people who are not afraid of sad, modernistic & angry music."

The single finest symphonic prog album in recent times

Jeffrey J.Park | Massachusetts, USA | 08/17/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I remember the buzz that swept through the prog community when this album was released by the now (sadly) defunct Swedish proggers Anglagard back in 1994. Certainly, I was not immune to the effects of this exciting development, and at the time it was my favorite rock album and Anglagard was my favorite new band. It appeared (back then at any rate) that a renaissance was being ushered in, whereby really good prog rock would once again take center stage after nearly a 20-year hiatus. Although that never did happen, this album will, in my opinion, forever remain as the single best symphonic progressive rock album released in current times (1994-present day). I also regard the album as the last gasp from a progressive rock style that all but faded away around 1976 or so.

The neat thing about Epilog is that it borrows from the past (early Genesis, 73-74 King Crimson), but also has its own unique voice. In fact, that is precisely what the best 1970s progressive rock was all about - a signature sound.

The music on the purely instrumental Epilog album is brooding, characteristically gloomy in a Swedish way, and alternates between very heavy, thunderous passages and quieter, spacey sections. The five pieces on the album include the 2'00" opening track Prolog; the 15'31" Hostejd; Skogsranden (10'47"); Sista Somrar (13'10"); and the closing track Sakandens Fullhet (1'59"). Themes are restated at specific points throughout the album, linking the five tracks. Although there are six tracks listed on the album, Rosten simply consists of 11 seconds of silence.

With respect to the lineup, Anglagard was comprised of keyboardist Thomas Johnson (Hammond organ, mini-moog, mellotron with string and voice settings, and acoustic piano); superb bassist Johan Hogberg (he used a newer-sounding and trebly six-string bass); excellent drummer Mattias Olsson; and fantastic guitarists Tord Lindman and Jonas Engdegard. Non-rock instrumentation includes flute, cello, and violin amongst other instruments. Although this album is 99% instrumental, there are some very brief and haunting female vocalese sections.

One of the most significant features of this album is the sophistication of the music itself. These guys had a good grasp on composition and really knew how to put a larger piece together - which is no small feat I might add. In terms of the level of virtuosity these guys could play bloody well, and unusual root movements, intricate time signatures, and abrupt metric shifts abound. On the other hand, they knew when (and more importantly, how) to back off and spacey, delicate sections nicely balance the heavier sections (as a warning, sometimes the change between loud:soft can be very jarring). Their pieces also show absolutely no trace of the radio-friendly pop; American arena rock; heavy metal/nu-metal; and hard rock styles that are favored by many of the current crop of "progressive" bands.

The digipak format is very nice and features excellent sound and detailed liner notes that feature a series of very gothic images, and lyrics to the songs in Swedish. Other exciting new groups that I personally enjoy fuse rock with styles such as electronica, ambient, the European avant-garde and psychedelic rock including the post rock group Sigur Ros (Iceland); Porcupine Tree (England); Ozric Tentacles (England); and Dungen (Sweden).

All in all, I would highly recommend Epilog to all prog fans old and new alike."

Beautiful progaliciousness.

Lord Chimp | Monkey World | 11/08/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"_Epilog_ is considered one of the great masterpieces of Swedish symph prog and I would personally say it's the best Swedish prog album ever made (not that I've heard them ALL, but ya know...). It used to be something of a holy grail since it was out-of-print for years. It developed a rather legendary mystique with all the praise it received, and this was compounded by the fact that no one could find a copy of the darn thing. Thankfully, it has finally been re-released (along with Anglagard's first album, _Hybris_) in a gorgeous digipak. This all-instrumental album is pure prog: instrumentation consists of fat Rickenbacker bass, lush mellotrons, percussive Hammond organs, guitars, flute, and percussion. The music is complex and epic, full of tense interaction and head-spinning time-signature changes. The band is uniformly virtuoso but there is little emphasis on individual players -- distinct solo spots are uncommon, while tricky unisons and deft interplay stand out. Sounds like an good albeit normal prog album, so what's the big deal? It's hard to say what makes _Epilog_ so magical. The recipe of fervent symph prog-cum-Scandinavian lyricism just works amazingly well when employed by this group. The music has a great sense of textural depth and rhythmic fervor rivaled by few. There is also virtually no "prog cheese" in this music, possibly due to the band's dark Scandinavian undercurrents. And the drumming of the young Mattias Ollson is simply jaw-dropping. He knows few peers in the world of prog (he also plays on the White Willow albums _Ex Tenebris_ and _Sacrament_, and also with the stunning pop band Pineforest Crunch). Most important, _Epilog_ flows beautifully (from pastoral flute & acoustic guitars to all-out juicy prog onslaughts of unmatched energy), the course of the songs always urgently forming a compelling arc of thematic connections with the inevitability of gravity. No prog collection is complete without this masterpiece. I cannot recommend it enough."

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