UNTIL ALL THE GHOSTS ARE GONE

Anekdoten are masters of prog with incredible musicianship and very powerful song structures. Until All the Ghosts are Gone is one of their triumphs along with their earlier masterpiece Vemod.

The Scandinavian band effectively capture a unique soundscape of heavy guitars interspersed with majestic keyboards. Nicklas, Anne, Jan and Peter are virtuoso musicians and it is all wrapped in a beautiful atmosphere of emotional lyrics sung with power by Nicklas.

Shooting Star is a 10 minute proggy track that seques masterfully into Get Out Alive. This track has a sensuous mellotron sound and acoustic layers.

If It All Comes Down to You is a melancholic piece featuring the flute of Theo Travis from King Crimson and Steven Wilson. Again the vocals are emotive and sweetly sung to add to the melancholy nuances. The textures of light and shade are augmented by strong keys and guitars but that flute is divine. It adds a pastoral Canterbury feel that is unsurpassed.

Writing on the Wall sounds like King Crimson with lashings of mellotron that remind me of In The Court of the Crimson King. The lead guitar break is beautifully played and there is a great section of phased keys and heavier layered guitars. This is a master-class of musicianship.

Until All the Ghosts Are Gone opens with haunting flute, peaceful verses, then builds into a symphonic Chorus. The instrumental break is Theo's twittering flute sparring off with Nicklas mellotron. It is a beautiful and ethereal soundscape that transfixed the ear.

Our Days Are Numbered is an instrumental that closes the album with a heavier sound once it builds. The guitars are a machine gun attack with an off kilter drum tempo by Nordins. The lead guitar soars and dives on this with some crazy time sig changes. Half way through it breaks with a sparse atmosphere of saxophone sounds by Gustav and a doomy baseline by Jan. This is tremendous stuff.

The album is deservedly one of the highest ranking Heavy Prog albums. It definitely merits my 5 stars too. You know a masterpiece when you hear one and this is it.