UNTIL ALL THE GHOSTS ARE GONE

"Untill All The Ghosts Are Gone", the sixth album from Swedish rockers Anekdoten seems to have stirred up quite a fuss around here. Now, Anekdoten is a band that I am only mildy familiar with. Having only listened to their "From Within" album, and some tracks from "Gravity". I was intrigued to see that one of their albums had managed to rate higher than "From Within". So having thoroughly enjoyed "From Within" in the past, I decided to give it a listen and see if all the hype is really true.

It doesn't take long to realize that this was a much different beast than the Anekdoten I was familiar with. "Until" features the Keyboards and Mellotron much more than the Guitar and Drum focused music I had previously heard in "From Within". As a result, their sound is much fuller than in the past; and with the occasional use of Acoustic Guitar, it has a much lighter sound as well. However, that's not to say that they have dropped their trademark dark and heavy sound, but rather expanded upon it. Focusing less on the heaviness has allotted them a lot more free space in writing than in the past, and they take full advantage of it here. Now sounding less like a full-force hard-prog band, and more towards a dark hard-symphonic sound.

Their new musical direction shines brightly in each track, and it's clear that all the time away from the band has really gotten their creativity flowing again. There is never a moment where I feel the urge to press the skip button, considering how much of a shame it would be to miss even a second of this!

"Until" is a breath of fresh air in an era dominated by Swilson and company. Anekdoten demonstrates to us their mastery of moody heavy-prog, as well as revealing the more beautiful side of their music to us; and for that, they have earned a fan in me.