WAKING THE DEAD - LIVE IN JAPAN 2005

Waking The Dead is the second Anekdoten live album. It shows a further growth of their known live competence; especially the vocals have become much stronger since the previous live album. Again there is a mix of known songs from recent albums and a number of gems that are not or hard to find outside this release.

The familiar material is performed truthful to the originals but it benefits from the live adrenaline bonus. The band plays tightly and depending on the occasion either subtle or powerful. The album production is a bit below studio standards but competent enough. The performances are at least as good. Niclas vocals on Kiss of Life are still grating but less so then on the From Within original. Hole is as mesmerizing as it's always been.

The first track unique to this concert is the short mellotron gathering Moons of Mars. It reverts to the fascinating cinematic atmospheres of the Morte Macabre project and serves as an intro into one of my favorite instrumental moments from Anekdoten, The Sun Absolute. The second previously unreleased track is This Too Will Pass, a delightful instrumental that investigates the pensive moods of post-rock. The album ends with Sad Rain, an early Anekdoten piece that doesn't appear on the regular album releases and that you shouldn't miss here if you don't have it yet.

I'm not too fond of the live album format but Waking the Dead has got the goods. The performances are excellent and, Sad Rain included, there are 3 rare tracks that are hard or not to be found anywhere else, essential enough to turn this into a 4 star live album for me.