ELDBERG

If your a retro music fan stop! ELDBERG, a five piece from Iceland, have so far delivered two pretty good slices of early seventies sounding prog. This is their debut from 2011, and we last heard from them in 2015. This is powerful, organ led music much of the times with a singer who can bring it. He would represent Iceland in the Eurovision contest two years after this record was released. The organ and vocals do bring DEEP PURPLE to mind, but to my ears it's almost a coincidence, not that they are all DEEP PURPLE fans. They name-check symphonic and proto prog bands as influences for the most part. These guys have been into their dad's music!

I was surprised this was released on Mylodon Records a label I'm very acquainted with out of Chile. Oh, and there's some guest sax on one track. A tidy little 42 minute record with seven tracks, including the epic closer at almost 15 minutes. I love that there's this little jazzy section on this one, lots of contrasts and repeated themes. They just change things up, like the wordless vocals and determined sound. Some fast paced picking with that guitar then check out that rebel scream that the singer holds onto like Ian Gillan might have some 40 years earlier.

That vocal prowess is also heard on the previous track during the final minute. These two songs really showcase his voice. The sax is late on track two and it's okay, it adds another flavour I suppose. That second track is where I'm thinking the singer sounds Swedish as he sings in his own language throughout. There's even a short section of processed vocals. I like that on the fifth track the vocalist sings in a reserved manner bringing that SOLAR PLEXUS singer to mind, and especially the song "My Song Is For Her" that I like so much.

This is a really good album and band that Iceland I'm sure is proud of(at least the singer no?). 4 stars for this one.

Eldberg was formed in early December 2008 by the brothers Asmundur S. Sigurosson (bass) and Jakob G. Sigurosson (drums), they had started to jam together, playing some Focus and Procol Harum songs in the autumn. Soon the brothers were joined by guitarist Reynir Hauksson, keyboard player Atli Bjornsson and singer E Ingi Gunnlaugsson. After Atli decided to move to Glasgow in Scotland( to learn sound engineering) and Ingi Gunnlaugsson went on to do other projects, Jakob, Reynir and Asmundur Jakob started to play together again with church organist K Ingi Arnarsson. They started to write (mainly instrumental) songs and did their first recordings in the summer of 2009, but the recordings never came out. After the summer K Ingi Arnarsson quit due to lack of time for the band, then Asmundur, Reynir and Jakob focused on song writing. But K Ingi Arnarsson rejoined the band to do some test recordings in the winter. In 2010 singer (and now actor) P Birgisson joined the band with keyboardist Heimir Klemenzson, and the musicians started rehearsing. When P Birgisson left E Ingi Gunnlaugsson came back and took his place behind the microphone. Early summer 2010 the band decided to record an album in the autumn with P Hjaltested, keyboardist of the well known Seventies prog rock band Eik from Iceland. The band wrote and rehearsed for the album during the summer and began recording it in the autumn. The recordings only took four days but P Hjaltested was busy for two weeks to do the transmission from tape to the album and the mixing. When the mix was ready Asmundur had to fly to England with these tapes in order to do the cut for the vinyl in London (limited edition of 500). Finally the album was released in 2011.

The first part of the album contains five melodic rock songs with powerful and passionate native vocals, an unique combination, how many times you will listen to prog with Icelandic vocals! I enjoyed the tasteful colouring of the music with electric guitar, saxophone, Mellotron, synthesizer, electric piano and a lot of Hammond organ.

The second part of the album features two epic compositions, drenched into the Seventies Heavy Prog tradition. In Eg Er Lifsins Brauo the intro sounds like a tribute to Ken Hensley delivering majestic and bombastic Hammond layers. Then a slow and compelling atmosphere with strong vocals and sensitive electric guitar and finally an accellaration with fiery guitar and Hammond, evoking Deep Purple. The final track is their highlight entitled Hlioarlif Vor Tuma, clocking around 15 minutes. It starts dreamy with wonderful work on electric - and Spanish guitar, then gradually more heavy featuring lush Hammond and beautiful vocals. After a swirling Hammond organ solo we can enjoy jazzy guitar and swinging piano. The final part is a kind of Heavy Prog Heaven with strong, pretty emotional vocals, fiery electric guitar (in the vein of Ritchie Blackmore) and again lush and bombastic Hammond, I love it!

What a tasteful and pleasant debut album, with the native vocals as an extra dimension. It took four years for Eldberg to release a second album entitled Par Er Heimur Hugans, so a third effort in 2019?

My rating: 3,5 star.

4.5 stars for sure

The sophomore album of this excellent band from Iceland released this year in march and named Par Er Heimur Hugans is a little treasure and a very worthy album to investigate. If the debut was a great one, in my opinion this second offer tops it, to me is one of the better albums released in last yesrs. The music offered is keeping the same attitude as on debut , heavy prog with psychedelic aproach, quite original, intresting and damn fine composed. Good and captivating moments here on all pieces, not a weak moment for sure, the hammond is very strong keeping a high level and melted with the guitar is absolutly killer. Very good the druming, not overly complex but very well performed, the voice is great aswell. All pieces has same level, not one is in front, is a very good thing that Eldberg were concentrated to make all pieces strong not only 2-3 like one many albums from today. The sound is retro, it smelling of early '70s prog/psychedelic with an add of that unmatch brilliant nordic feel to it. The lyrics are in icelandic, and is a good thing because it gives to originality a higher level. very very strong band this Eldberg, to me is for sure one of the most intresting ones in last decade, I'm saying with my hand on heart that they are to me in top 5 fav ones ever, I was really pleasent surprised by both albums. A plus is .th excellent cover art in inside drawing, digipak format issued by chilean Mylodon label. recommended, captivating and intresting heavy psych. One of the best from this year and to me nr 1 for 2015 for sure. 4.5 stars without hesitation.

What do you do when planning a trip to say a place thats a bit off the beaten track like iceland? look up where the nearest record shops are and what prog bands might be kicking around, then try and communicate with shop staff for some recommendations. The recommendation was eldberg. with two albums on vinyl, i plumped for the one with no info/reviews, a bit of an 'at risk' purchase you might say? Well... a risk that paid off!

The gatefold vinyl cover art is beautiful inside and out. Very otherworldly. Five stars for that!

The sound is big, and uses a great mix of old keyboards, hammond, rhodes etc, with guitar and even a touch of theramin, with a clean and modern production, but not too clean, a few timing glitches which in my opinion gives the music a very human and natural feel as opposed to over produced, technically perfect stuff that bands tend to work at with the modern tech available.

The vocals are crisp and clear and of course in icelandic, and the melodies perfectly suit the language. Ive no idea what its about, but the album title translates as - there is a world of the mind - so picture a dream like state.

The songs are original, simple, brooding, and some are quite dark and alien; on the whole much like Iceland itself. Slow stuff, fast stuff, loud and soft passages. Its all here.

For a country with a small population, this is a great band thats evolved and is well worth your time and your ears!

Comparisons with other bands? I dont tend to like to do that, but maybe if you like the first couple of albums by 'diagonal' you would like this. I wouldnt dare compare the two though.

Five stars from me. One of the best new prog bands ive heard. Looking forward to checking out the first album soon. I hope to see this band live in the future, please come to scotland!

In the cold grounds of Iceland Eldberg were born in 2008, led by the Sigurdsson brothers, Jakob Gretar on drums and Asmundur Svavar on bass plus guitarist Reynir Hauksson.They operated with a five-piece line-up, but departures led them back to a trio the following year.Sometime later they welcome Eybor Ingi Gunnlaugsson as the lead singer and Heimir Klemenzson on keyboards, while the original members had already started recording original tracks.They were discovered by Mylodon Records, which launched the band's self-titled debut in 2011, a limited press of 500 vinyl copies became also available through the band's website.

This is 100% Scandinavian Retro Prog with heavy and psychedelic leanings, end of story.Members state that listening to Focus, Procol Harum, Jethro Tull and Yes were the basic inspirations that led them to the formation of Eldberg, but the music here follows the vein of all these underground Icelandic Heavy/Psych Rock bands of the 70's, ICECROSS, MANAR, PELICAN plus a strong dose of the Swedish scene, TRETTIOARIGA KRIGET or RAG I RYGGEN.The music is driven by the powerful psychedlic guitar explorations and the omnipresent sounds of the Hammond organ, supported occasionally by a Wurlitzer and a Rhodes piano plus some synthesizer.Cool bluesy influences, tempo variations and a mixture of vocal- and instrumental-led moments with some nice rockin' explosions in the process.Needless to say that all lyrics are sung in their native language.They sure know how to create and promote this charming vintage feeling of the Scandinavian lands, some great atmospheric moments are present here and the 15-min. epic closer ''Hlidarlif vor tima'' is one of the darkest pieces of Scandinavian Prog to be created in the recent days, featuring monumental vocals, sinister rhythms, some lovely acoustic breaks and dominant Hammond organ, great piece.

Scandinavian Prog is a genre of its own.Eldberg are among its representatives and actually among the very good ones.Nice Psych-flavored Heavy Rock/Prog with irritating vocals, strongly recommended...3.5 stars.

Eldberg is a very young band from Iceland who released last year their first selftitled album. It was for me a very pleasent surprise, because on one hand they are from a country where prog is not at home with some exceptions that I know like Svanfridur or Eik, on the other hand is a very solid album that capture my attention from start to finish. The music offered by Eldberg is a combination of heavy prog passages with psychedelic arrangements very much similar with bands like Uriah Heep Salisbury or Look at yourself era. Good and captivating moments here on all pieces, not a weak moment for sure, the hammond is very strong keeping a high level and melted with the guitar is absolutly killer. Very good the druming, not overly complex but very well performed, the voice is great aswell. All pieces has same level, not one is in front, is avery good thing that Eldberg were concentrated to make all album strong not only 2-3 pieces like one many albums from today. This is a very retro sound that will please fans of the genre big time, very promissing band that for sure needs attention. Excellent cover art in inside drawings, digipak format issued by chilean Mylodon label. recommended, captivating and intresting heavy psych. One of the best from last year no doubt. 4 stars easy

This is an interesting piece of retro prog. It has a very early-seventies sound, dominated by the old Hammond organ sound. In fact, my first impression was that this band was building on Deep Purple's sound. But in retrospect, they are far more progressive than DP ever was.

The songs often have a prog folk feel, with some delicate guitars, and lighter keyboards that float about, until the bombastic Hammond joins in to beef up the sound. While I don't understand a word of the lyrics (I presume they are sung in Icelandic), I find all of the songs to be enjoyable, in a nostalgic way.

WARNING: Only for fans of organ dominated Prog, more generally for Retro Prog fans.

Iceland, land of mostly ice (and sparsely populated habitats), but not much of a Prog. And now this, classic Prog, shooting like blast from the past. So normally it would be average album and 3 stars would be in order, but I cannot grant average rating to an album that should be average (technically), but sounds like something more. It is very lively (so no 35 years or rotting corpse on someone's backyard), but a healthy child. Even it is quite a overgrown child.

4(-), almost didn't make it out of 3 stars gravity, but finally did.

From the quirky album cover to the wonderful music, Eldberg is a band not to be missed. This debut album is a gem of progressive rock ! Their music would clearly not have looked out of place in the early 70s, since it's heavily hammond organ-based. The keyboardist does an amazing job at capturing the essence of the 70s prog rock in that regard, his playing is beyond par. The other musicians, from the drummer to the guitarist are also quite amazing, and very delicate.

Though Eldberg sounds like a mix of Genesis, Yes, Camel and modern-day Beardfish, Eldberg has managed to creat its own identity in between the set boundaries of "classic prog". Plus, it's so refreshing to hear music from the golden days of prog, but made in 2011.

All songs are wonderful, so I'll just bring your attention to the ending part of 'EEg er lkfsins braus' which is a...'particular' rendition of "Child in Time", my favorite song of Deep Purple. And to the final "epic" 14-min song, which in its middle part picks up with an upbeat jazzy tune with wonderful organ and guitar...

Eldberg, I'm eagerly awaiting for your next album.