ERLKOENIG

Another one of the near forgotten gems of the early Krautrock era comes from the Helmstedt based ERLKOENIG which took its name from the Goethe poem and was one of the few bands in the Krautrock scene to marry the psychedelic nature of the genre to the likes of the symphonic prog playing out in England. The band was formed by classically trained keyboardist Eckhardt Freynik in 1972 and although the band stuck it out until 1977 only managed to release this sole eponymously titled album which emerged in 1973.

The banded started out as a trio with Freynik on keys, Michael Brandes on drums and Günter Ambrecht on bass but guitarist Friedrich Krüger was added just before the recording of this album. The Goethe poem from which the band took its name is about the death of a child assailed by a supernatural being, the Erlking (the English translation of ERLKOENIG), a king of the fairies. The poem has been a favorite of many classical composers especially Franz Schubert and a clue as to what kind of music you can expect with this one which is dark and moody and delivered with a fiery passion.

First and foremost, ERKOENIG was a symphonic prog band dominated by incessant classically infused organ runs and dark atmospheric ambience. The intensity is further amplified with tight-knit instrumental interplay with lengthy complex compositions that ran the gamut of slow plodding moody sequences to heavier bombastic outbursts. Freynik is the closest thing to a Kraut version of a Keith Emerson i've so far encountered although much more restrained. This album features a keen emphasis on virtuosic workouts rather than hypnotic detachment however the psychedelic accentuations clearly place this in the realms of the tripped out German scene.

While mostly instrumental, a few vocal performances in English can be heard courtesy of drummer Michael Brandes. With an original pressing of only 1000 copies which were only sold at live events, this collector's obscurity was released in 2001 on the Garden of Delights label with four unreleased bonus tracks. The album's original six tracks all exceed six minutes with four over eight. The dominating organ keeps this one sounding dark and creepy with an overall epic sound worthy of a Goethe poetic soundtrack. Occasional emphasis on guitar allows this one to reach the realms of harder rock with a better than average percussion delivery.

Much Krautrock of the early 70s focused on hypnotic and psychedelic features to offer pure escapism without the need to exhibit unabashed virtuosity but ERLKOENIG managed to straddle the fence with hypnotic grooves, dark forbidding organs and powerful epic compositions but also excelled in offering ample doses of stellar keyboard wizardry and guitar gymnastics. The only flaw of this one is in the rather poor production which may have been corrected on newer releases but not so great on original pressings. From a musical standpoint however, ERLKOENIG was one of the best Germany had to offer in the world of Krautrock and for those who love dark creepy symphonic prog, this will not disappoint one bit.