TIMELOSS

Paatos is made up of former members of Landberk and Ägg. They sound very much in the same vein as Landberk and Anekdoten, with beautiful washes of Mellotron, slow and mellow rhythms, and emotional yet sometimes sloppy guitar playing. What sets them apart from Landberk and Anekdoten is the beautiful female vocals of Petronella Nettermalm.

Timeloss is their debut album and it's a very impressive and promising start to what I hope will be a long and fruitful career. The first track, Sensor, sounds like a mix of the aforementioned groups and contains a nice, energetic section with beautiful and moody Mellotron following the vocals. Hypnotique is slow and mellow, has some great vocals, great flute solos, and the usual emotional and slightly sloppy guitar work of Reine Fiske. The cello near the end adds a nice touch to the piece, as well as the Mellotron backdrops in places. Téa is sung in Swedish, is again slow and mellow with Mellotron backdrops during the instrumental breaks, has soft vocals, and has a nice Mellotron section that takes off and soars during the last minute of the song. This is the best piece on the album.

The fourth track, They Are Beautiful, is again a slow and mellow piece with soft and gentle vocals, sounding slightly psychedelic in places and featuring clarinet. The last track is the 12+ minute Quits. It has a much quicker pace than the previous tracks, but some of the drums appear to sound like they've been programmed. The vocals are again beautiful here and there is lots of electric piano. However, the middle section seems to drag on for too long. The last three minutes are much more interesting, being a chaotic mix of horns and cacophony.

Overall, I was quite impressed with this debut. I think one of the weak points for Timeloss is that although Petronella Nettermalm has a beautiful voice, she tends to sing almost entirely in a soft and gentle style. In places you can tell she can deliver it with enough power to send shivers down your spine. Maybe this is because most of the songs are slow, slightly soft, and usually mellow; and that's the second weak spot on Timeloss. It could use a good kick in the pants. Some might even consider their sound too close to Landberk's and not original enough. Too me, however, it's similar to Landberk, but quite original. If you like Landberk, or Anekdoten, you will probably enjoy Paatos very much. Overall, I would rate this as a four-star release, an excellent debut and an excellent addition to any prog music collection.