VEMOD

Some weeks ago I asked a friend of mine, who is from Sweden by the way, to suggest me an interesting Swedish band to listen to: thankfully, he passed me this album and having myself appreciated Anglagard, reckoning them as one of the most amazing bands I've ever come across, I couldn't have been more fascinated by Vemod by Anekdoten. Now, to make myself clear from the very beginning, this is the only album I own of this band, though I'm longing to buy more and more, so I'm not aware of the other fatigues of these four guys. I hope to not overestimate them with such a sudden appreciation, but I do doubt I will. Anyway, they sound as progressive (symphonic perhaps) rock should, at least to me: not being an expert of the Swedish music scenario, I wonder if there's ever been a collaboration between Anekdoten and Anglagard. If so never occured, then I must give credit to the former of being as original as the latter. The overal sound reminds me of the first and more symphonic King Crimson, especially in the atmospheres Lake was able to create with his moody voice. Yet, though these reminiscences are evident and apparent, and they are not either hidden or faked, their music sounds inspiring and full of what I call melancholic aggression. My favourite track of this album is by far "Karelia", and not surprisingly it's the openup song of Vemod: what I really enjoy in this track is the pompous and King Crimson-like chord sequence in the background, the syncopatic drums, full of accents, open rides and intriguing fill-ins, the mellotron of course is the climatic and perhaps the most recognizable sound all over not only this specific song but almost the entire album. By the time I'm writing down this review, I've been listening for the third time in a row to this album, and I'm pretty sure it will accompany me for the entire day. So, I give four stars as a starting point, looking forward to raising up the stars in the future for the next albums