KINGS OF TIME

MAGYAR POSSE released their second album KINGS OF TIME to remarkable success in their native Finland. This Pori based quintet was treated to several awards and even touted as having created one of the finest albums in all of Finnish history with this 2004 sophomore recording KINGS OF TIME. Unlike the debut "We Will Carry You Over The Mountains," which pretty much matched the overall album sound to the title, KINGS OF TIME remains a mysterious number with a menacing scary red cover that evokes a nostalgia for the communist era of the Soviet Union along with seven anonymous titles that seamlessly flow together to create a greater sum of the parts as the moods shift from placid pleasantries to the more upbeat torrid tumultuous torrents.

KINGS OF TIME pretty much picks up where the debut left off. Many similarities are stark such as the general Mogwai meets Godspeed! You Black Emperor post-rock paradigm of ratcheting up cyclical grooves, soft guitar riff laden passages, synthesizer drenched atmospheres and the expected ratcheting up effect finding climactic crescendoes laced with pleasant Ennio Morricone styled melancholic melodies. However there are many differences as well. Firstly, there are a few more guest musicians providing more instrumentation including the sax, a violin and extra vocals and percussion. The inclusion of the violin makes KINGS OF TIME have a much more dramatic effect than the debut and brings it closer to times to Godspeed's classic sound than the more laid back Mogwai blueprint of the debut.

This album has a more varied feel not only in its instrumentation but moods expressed and it's virtually impossible to distinguish tracks as they are true shapeshifters. The first track throws you completely off guard since it doesn't sound like a post-rock album at all but rather an experimental space noise effect that finds you free floating in the vacuous orbit of some planet but the post-rock elements quickly step into line on the second track which finds vocals leading the guitar, violin and drums in an almost Magma zeuhl styled operatic manner. Yet another feature of this second album is that more wordless vocals find their supporting the otherwise instrumental album's mood setting flow. The third track introduces another distinguishing feature of KINGS OF TIME and that is the piano. Graced with more piano runs and organ sounds, this album finds a more symphonic prog vibe usurping the lysergic Krautrock of the debut however the atmospheric touches do nurture psychedelic leanings.

Despite the menacing album cover, this one really comes off as mostly warm and inviting because of the keyboards but not always. Track five is acoustic guitar based and as the tracks continue, they offer wealth of diversity that includes the "classic" Mogwai simplicity as well as the Godspeed! thunderous cacophony but always graced by beautiful melodies that range from peaceful to utterly frightening. The comparisons of MAGYAR POSSE's music to that of soundtrack's is quite apparent as a series of wordless melodies evoke different emotional responses much the way the composers of film often do. Overall, KINGS OF TIME delivers the goods on an epic style of post rock fortified with darkened Gothic overtones, interesting deviations from the expected march through the motifs and murky ever changing atmospheric cloud covers changing the degree of how much sunlight reaches the ground at any given moment. With haunting vocal accompaniments finding their way in between the guitar attacks, violin sweeps and cyclical rhythmic grooves, MAGYAR POSSE deliver a competent and entertaining second offering.