GOTHIC IMPRESSIONS

First, 2 of the most important tracks (including the epic) feature the rhythm section from Anglagard, with another track featuring both their guitarist and bassist. If there was ever a band that can be seen as a starting point for the third wave, it was Anglagard. They even borrowed Par's mellotron for their first album!

Second, Roine Stolt is featured on one track, playing acoustic guitar, and was also mixing engineer. Yet another link to a third wave giant. Roine was also recording his solo album, The Flower King, at the same time this album was being recorded.

Finally, Par notes in the booklet that most of the material was written by him in the 70's, but was not recorded at that time due to lack of interest from any record label. So, in the early 90's he started to see that real music was making a comeback and started his own label to release this material.

So how is the music? Well, it's kind of uneven really. The first track is an instrumental lament to Dresden, very gothic sounding and quite nice, fitting well with the album title. The second track is a slice of classic 90's prog, helped immensely by the Anglagard boys rhythm section. However, vocalist Ralf Glasz has a style that can best be described as overdone. He is not a screamy, over the top singer, but his style is distinctly non-prog and non-rock. I'm not really sure what his style is exactly, but it's not very good to my ears. Still, not a bad track.

Next up is the pleasant Green Meadow Lands. A different singer, not as bad as Glasz, rather unremarkable but serviceable. The song goes from pastoral to symphonic quite smoothly at various points in the song. A nice piece. This leads us into the nearly 20 minute epic, The Cathedral. The singing on here is even worse than on track 2, but at least there is a lot less of it. Some nice and very heavy guitar solos, along with great organ playing from Par. The song is a bit disjointed and doesn't seem to flow all that well, but once again the Anglagard rhythm section gives it the extra punch it needs to be at least not a bad song. Gunnlev's Round is a short, pleasant medieval piece featuring a choir, Magdalena Hagberg's lovely vocalizations, and a wide array of acoustic instruments including harp and classical guitar.

The final track, Mussorgsky's Night on Bare Mountain, is probably the most enjoyable. Everything on this track is played by Par, which is pretty impressive since some of the percussion work is quite good. A great interpretation using modern instruments, probably the best track on the album.

While this isn't nearly as good as Mundus Incompertus, it's still worth checking out if you enjoy that album. Just be warned about the poor singing. On the whole, a decent if a bit spotty album. 3 solid stars.

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