RAGNAROK

A fried of mine had a copy of this (hi Glenn) and I guess I must have heard it half a dozen times on his stereo. I'd love to find a copy somewhere.

I loved the opening track, 'Fenris', a real burner, and I also remember 'Rainbow Bridge' with fondness. I wasn't a fan of female vocalists, but Lea Maalfrid was excellent. Overall the music fitted comfortably into the Floydish groove, harking back to the late 60s and early 70s. Competent, enjoyable, with nothing that really grabbed me. I wonder what I'd think now, 30 years later?

Do you know, I never realised this was a Kiwi band?

I have their two studio albums and the live one. This is my least favourite, mostly because of the female singer who's vocals i'm just not a fan of.

This is mellotron heaven though and that's what makes it so good along with the tracks i'm familiar with from their live release. Interesting that those songs feature male vocals. "Butterfly Sky" is a dreamy, melancholic tune with lots of mellotron and those laid back male vocals. Great tune. "Rainbow Bridge" is another highlight. It's very mellow to start. Male vocals after 4 minutes.This sounds so beautiful.The vocals become more passionate 5 1/2 minutes in. "Raga" is the other highlight for me.

I love the style of music this band from New Zealand plays and if you can get your hands on their "Nooks" album or the live one you will be impressed i'm sure.This one is good but the female vocals bring down the rating for me. 3.5 stars.

Auckland-based short lived act from New Zealand,formed in 1974 by three members of the disbanded Sweet Feet: bassist Ross Muir,keyboardist Andre Jayet and drummer Mark Jayet,all coming from the city of Christchurch.With guitarist Ramon York and female vocalist Lea Maalfrid joining they soon built a great fame and toured extensively around the country.By summer of 75' the band recorded their self-titled LP,released on Revolution.

The style comes as a cross between ELOY's spaceness,PINK FLOYD's psychedelic face and BABE RUTH's Hard Prog style with a few TANGERINE DREAM-like Electronic beats added.And while all members contribute on the decent vocals of the album,it's the star of Maalfrid which really shines with her powerful,slightly hoarse chords,not unlike Jennie Haan of BABE RUTH.The album is characterized by the slow-tempo compositions,based on the strong,psychedelic use of synthesizers and the heavy guitars all over,often wrapped under orchestral-like arrangements.Notice also the great use of mellotron on most of the tracks,nicely blended with the background synths.Not all the album is based on the singing talent of Ragnarok's members,as a couple of tracks are all instrumental with an evident leaning towards more Electronic musicianship in the style of CYBOTRON,blended with Space Rock passages.However the lack of flexibility and the similarities of the style among the tracks prevents the album to make a huge impact.

If you are a dedicated fan of the aforementioned bands,Ragnarok is definitely your thing.Good musicianship,based on orchestral mellotron, psychedelic synths, doomy guitars and some great vocal lines.Recommended.