My lesser known and unknown new prog bands thread

- My first musical encounter with Anekdoten their compelling and captivating music was when I started to write for Dutch progrock paper SI Magazine in the early Nineties. I was very lucky that in this era the Mellotron drenched Skandinavian prog had just started to florish with as good examples Anglagard, White Willow, Landberk and ... Anekdoten. I was blown away by their debut CD entitled Vemod (even more on the re- release that contains the wonderful bonus track Sad Rain). On that album they sounded very similar to King Crimson (Anekdoten began as a King Crimson cover band) but gradually their music turned into more original and quite distinctive prog with the CD From Within as my personal favorite. I was a bit disappointed about the successor Gravity so what to expect from the this new CD?

During my first listening session I got very excited, it sounds more as a succesor to From Within than Gravity featuring the distinctive melancholical vocals, the dynamic-rhythm-section and the huge tension between the mellow, compelling, propulsive and bombastic parts. Of course I am delighted about the unsurpassed sound of the omni-present Mellotron, what a moving waves! Other keyboards on this album are the Farfisa organ (especially in the captivating 30 Pieces in great interplay with the Mellotron along propulsive guitar riffs and a wonderful final part with delicate flute and lush Mellotron) and synthesizer in Stardust An Sand (mellow with twanging guitars) and Prince Of The Ocean (dreamy with soft organ waves and a beautiful closing section with Mellotron). The guitar work sounds very alternating: fiery in the poweful opener The Great Unknown, propulsive in 30 Pieces and A Sky About To Rain, sensitive in King Of Oblivion and In For A Ride and mellow acoustic twanging in Stardust And Sand. My highlight is the long composition (almost 7 minutes) In For A Ride: it starts very compelling and bombastic, then a powerful bass and a lush Mellotron sound join and halfway we can enjoy a sensitive guitar solo. The climate ranges from dreamy to bombastic featuring a bit ominous undertone, almost psychedelic and very captivating, this is Anekdoten at their best!

With this album Anekdoten has prooved again to be a current top progrock band, every song is a wonderful painting delivering exciting and colourful landscapes, as if Turner and Constable have translated their paintings into prog music, a big hand for the new Anekdoten, not to be missed!