KINGDOM OF SADNESS

I really like when progressive rock bands are stretching out both musically and in the songs length, and gets away with it as good as VALINOR'S TREE. These Swedish guys are playing music that is a mix between ANEKDOTEN, GENESIS, KING CRIMSON and ÄNGLAGARD. The harder parts are closer to ANEKDOTEN and KING CRIMSON while the quiet parts are reminiscent to GENESIS and ÄNGLAGARD. They are using my favourite keyboard instrument Mellotron in a good way. I think they have put out a self-financed CD before they were signed to the Record Heaven label, and I don't know if this release contains the same songs as their self-financed debut. Anyway, this is a highly recommended release from yet another Swedish band with a promising future.

Hardly a emergency to discover this band . I had great expectations from this album after reading reviews at the time of releases : I was to discover as with Book of Hours another ANGLADOTEN and this was so superb. So I got a hold of it and deception was around the corner: Nothing like their predecessors IMHO , they are much harder too guitary and not subtle enough to even come to their knees. When I listen to them , a prog version of the Scorpions come to mind as the guitars are very reminescant of that band but of course , there is much more than that.

Another favourite of mine from the recent times.Why not to give a CD the whole 5 stars if the CD worth it?Pure brilliance,only this voice with accent is a bit weak.Musically it is a great mixture of GENESIS and ANEKDOTEN,well-played and composed,with awesome melodies (just to mention astonishing "Kingdom of Sadness").Swedish Prog becomes a synonym of flawless New Symphonic Prog for me!!!Highly recommended to all proggers!!! Try not to miss it!

This is just a joy to listen to instrumentally. Very Swedish sounding, in that it is fairly dark and melancholic. They use sampled mellotron on this album while on the follow up "And Then There Is Silence" they borrowed a real one. The vocals really kill this one for me. They are really over the top at times (straining), and out of tune once and a while. If they could re-record this with another vocalist i'd be overjoyed because the music is so good.

The first song and title track "Kingdom Of Sadness" does not disappoint though, and it's worth the price of admission. There is a couple of cringe moments with the vocals but the song is fantastic ! "Cold" is a fairly mellow, sad and restrained tune. "Memories" follows the same path as the previous song, but the vocals are worse. "Deep" is laid back until it kicks in around a minute. I like the heaviness.This contrast continues.

This really is frustrating because they obviously have a lot of talent and I really like their style, but for the love of all that is good and right get a new vocalist !

Another band from Sweden, which contributed in its own way to the Scandinvian revival of Prog during the 90's.It is unclear when the band was formed, possibly sometime around mid-90's, featuring Simon Says' drummer Mattias Jarlhed along with guitarist Ola Sivefäldt, bassist/guitarist Anders Lindgren and keyboardist John Lönnmyr.They recorded their debut in February/March 1998 at the Kappelet Studio in Falköping and the album was released the same year on Record Heaven under the title ''Kingdom of Sadness''.

The eponymous track is the absolute highlight of the album.Based on a furious groove and the fast piano paces of Lönnmyr, it goes through many changing tempos with impressive guitar parts and great work on Mellotron, containing also superb breaks along the way, much in the vein of LANDBERK and ANEKDOTEN, maybe a bit more modern.''Cold'' is another good piece of modern Prog opening with warm vocals and a melancholic piano theme and growing into a powerful chorus with sharp synthesizers and a grandiose atmosphere.The middle part though closes to spacey soundscapes with some hypnotic bass lines and acoustic guitars.''Memories'' follows the same form, more or less.Smooth introduction, powerful and intense chorus and an energetic ending, which grows from slighly experimental atmospheres to dynamic Heavy Prog.The longest track of the album, entitled ''Deep'', sounds a bit incosistent, still contains some really cool moments.It reminds me strongly of the diverse music of PAIN OF SALVATION with unrelated styles stuck together in a inspirational way and scanning the music of acts such as RUSH, KING CRIMSON and even A.C.T., trying to blend the hard face of Prog music with more melodic textures.Again the keyboard and piano work of Lönnmyr is at moments phenomenal.

Great debut by a band that desrved more fame.The first track is a killer one, the rest are also nice examples of Progressive Rock music heading to the millenium.Fresh and adventurous material, definitely strongly recommended...3.5 stars.