MÅLTID

I have to thank SAMLA MAMMAS MANNA, because they opened more my eyes, I had the preconception that all Avant bands where extremely weird, extremely technical and with a total lack of sense of humor. Well, this band has made me travel from the late 60's inspired debut to the incredibly strange "Dear Mamma" and now is the turn o review their second release "Måltid".

If SMM is almost Psyche and "Dear Mamma" is one of the most characteristic expressions of Avant Garde, "Måltid" is a beautiful fusion of different sounds and styles that go from Fusion top the most experimental forms of Electronic.

"Dundrets Fröjder" starts with a strange intro that leads immediately to a strong passage reminiscent of EMERSON LAKE & PALMER which without even noticing morphs into a guitar oriented Jazz section, without losing their sense of humor they continue exploring this trilogy of influences for the almost eleven minute's that the song lasts. Am incredible experience that broadens the horizons of melodic fans like me, but without scaring us with almost impossible to understand experimentations. The frantic ending when they go a step back towards some form of Acid Psychedelic Jazz is simply amazing.

In "Oförutsedd F¢rlossning" they start joking with their voices, but in contrast a very sober piano makes a fantastic melody, first in the background and then takes the lead, but the vocal jokes follow, this time with a powerful guitar supporting them, at the end all the band together play some sort of ultra elaborate fusion.

"Den Återupplivade Låten" starts weirder than ever but now a very dramatic and strong section irrupts out of nowhere, somehow Symphonic with Jazzy and Hard Rock leanings, this proves how versatile this guys are. The last section blows minds, is completely unexpected, but when you are used to this band, you should expect anything. When explained with poor words may sound confusing but when you listen it, everything is in it's place.

"Folkvisa I Morse" begins Medieval oriented with a troubadouresque tune that goes for a long period of time with soft humming in the background, by moments they enter into a delightful cacophony, but just for a few seconds before they return to the main tune.

"Syster System" is hilarious, I dare anybody to listen the vocals and not to laugh, but the take the music seriously, because the piano is fantastic, even when a bit repetitive, no radical changes until the end, just screams and the constant piano.

"Tärningen" is a mixture of Rock and ...anything, SMM seems to get more adventurous as the album advances, but this time reminds me a bit of the radical changes in some of the most elaborate FOCUS tracks. But the most interesting feature is how the song evolves through different sounds and moods with no effort, as if it was something easy and natural.

"Svackorpoängen" begins with a very Classical oriented piano intro that grows in intensity as it advances, again the voices join with their high pitched tones and conversations taking us a few centuries back to the late Medieval era, but radically change into some form of Modern classical, Lasse Hollmer does a brilliant work in the piano. Can't help feeling the strong FOCUS reminiscences in "Minareten" but of course much more complex, the melody is lead by the guitar in a perfect Jan Akkerman style. For the first time in the album, the song flows gently without surprises until almost the middle, when they start with a controlled experimentation and screams, you must listen this track, because words can't describe it.

The official release ends with "Værelseds Tilbud" which starts incredibly dramatic, with a mysterious Avant (the real Avant Garde) piano which takes the central role and makes all the changes and experiments almost alone, wonderful ending.

The album has three more bonus tracks, but as always I stay with the original song list, because that's the way the author released it and how IMO should be listened.

Even when more mature than the self titled debut, I feel they lost some of the beautiful naïve sound that was so pleasant, but instead we get a more solid musical expresion.

A fantastic album for people who are willing to take the risk with more adventurous musical forms, that I can't rate with less than 5 stars.