AURUM NOSTRUM

And so, a brand new world of awareness, magic and this sort of profound darkness was revealed to me in front of my eyes and through my ears by this Nordic band named SINKADUS. Since I've partly devoted my senses to most of the Prog Rock emerged from the Scandinavian countries, specially Sweden; I had no hesitation about lending my soulful attention to "Aurum Nostrum". And in return, when carrying on with my conviction, I got rewarded in such inexplicable ways. So, here's the vision made beautiful music that eclipsed my mind then and the one that keeps opening it wider every single time I dedicate my time and space to the almost entire hour the album lasts.

At first listen, the musical and lyrical proposal where the band stands on, may appear as a scribbled draft filtered from the iconic figure top class Swedish bands from the 90's we're all familiar with crafted throughout their work that remains still as a point of departure for upcoming generations of musicians, poets or whoever needs a sense of direction and inspiration in their life somewhat. But to me, SINKADUS took a step forward to become not only an icon within the Swedish progressive rock scene, but for to be reminded as precursors of a unique musical creation that bloomed before Nordic landscapes, born and brought to the Prog Rock world.

By taking off peacefully captivating, "Aurum Nostrum" shows through scene one, "Snålblåst"; the starting glance of perfection depicted all the way down to the end of the album. There's this sort of struggle between the instruments introduced to us in here to set off individually inside your ears, where either the charming notes of a flute can get engaged to a fight with the voracious keys of a Mellotron or where the chords of a guitar that patiently waits to blast off can provoke the compassed beat of drums to be stricken fiercely to become an unforgettable passage in music. Then, over the closing section, this kind of hypnotic eeriness will take you down to earth in a single snap. This piece is quite an overture to what's to come of this masterpiece.

Act two. "Manuel" is the shortest song out of this four piece album, but as mighty powerful as any of the rest. The movements in here are lead slowly in the beginning to become a waterfall of obscure emotions in which you'll get irremediably caught. The flute, taken away wonderfully by Linda JOHANSSON; is the instrument that blown me away the most over this track. There is no moment where the enchanting wind instrument is not executed spotlessly. A fine piece that arouses expectation to the highest point yet it can pull you down to the deepest sorrow that seeps under your sensitivity.

"Ågren" is my favorite piece of this debut album. Although "Aurum Nostrum" is undoubtedly impressive in its whole togetherness, this third chapter is particularly exceptional. The devouring sound of the Mellotron is determined to take over the entire argumentation of the song, and I must say it accomplishes the task heavenly. The determinant part comes during the first third of the piece where that Mellotron talks of anguish and rage to a flute that's willing to talk back quietly but that inevitably surrenders as every single key from the instrument played by Fredrik KARLSSON is tapped down. As the end of the song rides rapidly to the last minute, we can actually get to perceive that angst and pressure in a more depicted way. All in all, great stuff.

The song entitled to picture the whole album in the most impressive way, has to be "Ättestupan". Even though this piece isn't my favorite, is, under my appreciation, the scene where the musical clash is clearly exposed and explained. This last song is very elaborated, quite enigmatic and fearfully heavy in its description. It walks down a path where it randomly turns to one side and to the other without losing perception. The fixation to provoke your inner depths, to awake your encapsulated mind and to shake up everything around you, is outstanding. And what to obviate about the instrumentation? Nothing at all. The song is self-explaining and intriguing by all means. The perfect ending to a perfect album.

I'm sure you'll get surrounded by every single moment of this album. SINKADUS is proposing, adventurous, dark, passionate and over all, Swedish. If you want to experience the feeling of emptiness by having it all in a band, experience the sense of being found in the middle of nowhere and feel everything and nothing at the same time, your impatience to discovery has to be directed to SINKADUS. If you enjoy the company of ÄNGLAGÅRD, LANDBERK or WHITE WILLOW, this sextet of talented musicians is for you. Nothing left to be said here, definitely a must in any respectable Prog Rock collection.