HÄXAN

I must admit I've lost track of this band over the last several years as the last album I bought from them was their 2008 release called "4". "Haxan" is their first all instrumental album and it's a soundtrack for what is believed to be the oldest cartoon in existence, a silent film called "The Adventures Of Prince Achmed" from 1926. "Haxan" is Swedish for Witch, one of the characters of this film. The appeal for me is the abundance of mellotron on this one, plus the many spacey sounds along with floating organ. I am surprised at how heavy and raw the final tune is, very much a fuzzed out guitar driven tune.

"Peri Banu Vid Sjon" is a trippy tune with percussion, bass and atmosphere. "Jakten Genom Skogen" is one of my favourites. Just a beautiful sound to this one with the acoustic guitar and mellotron. It picks up as the percussion and bass join in. Man that mellotron/ drum sound is incredible! "Wak- Wak's Porter" is surprisingly noisy with flute playing over top. Not big on this one.

"Den Fattige Aladdin" is a short and light flute led piece with shuffling drums. "Trollkarlen Och Fa Geldrakten" opens with bass as piano, drums and more kicks in. This is repetitive with experimental sounds over top. The rhythm stops after 3 1/2 minutes as the organ continues to the end. "Grotten" is spacey throughout. "Haxan" is heavy sounding with plenty of fuzz until it mellows out before 2 minutes and eventually keys join the repetitive beat.

"Aladdins Flykt Over Havlt" has lots of keys and deep sounds. "Kalifen" reminds me a lot of PROCOL HARUM with that organ sound leading the way. That vibe changes though when the guitar expressions and keyboard sounds take over with a beat. "Achmed Flyger" is another favourite of mine. Piano to start before we get hit with a mellotron storm, head for cover! A driving rhythm kicks in quickly and the mellotron here is relentless until it gives way to flute before 3 minutes but the mellotron does return later. Great tune!

"Aladdin Och Lampan, Del 1" features laid back piano lines that come and go throughout. "Aladdin Och Lampan, Del 2" is flute driven with a beat. "Achmed Och Peri Banu" opens with piano and it will come and go as we get a bass line joining in. This is fairly simple and laid back. "Andarnas Krig" ends the album as I mentioned earlier in a raw and heavy manner with lots of distorted guitar from Fiske. They just seem to jam in a heavy way.

I do prefer the spacey sections, especially the mellotron driven ones over this heavy tune and the odd other heavy section on this album. Still a very solid 4 stars for this mellotron feast, one of the better mellotron albums of 2016.