ARS MORIENDI

This is the last one of a set of obscure neobands I wanted to discover. Obscure this is because one review and one album (from 1996) is not really one of the big names. And in fact I never heard of this Swedish band either I have to admit. Well, one statement can already be made here: not all bands from Sweden are top of the bill, there was a time I really believed that but this Catweazle: the best thing I can say is that it's interesting.

There are about nine shorter and four longer songs on this album but this difference in time length is not significant on this album. One might even say that the shorter songs are slightly better, most of them with prominent acoustic guitar and organ. The vocals are below par in my opinion and not by chance are these alternating singing and just talking in the tracks.

Maybe they should have thrown in a few fine instrumentals on this album to get a sufficient score for those like Crystal Maze did on their more or less similar release. But they had to do the vocals in practically every song. But to be frank the instrumental passages on this album are minimal and not very impressive either. Like the vocals also the instrumental bits are unusual and original same as the many "streetsounds" on many of the tracks.

Does all this make Ars Moriendi a terrible album ? Not quite, that would be a bit too harsh but if you are looking for wonderful neo prog like the big names in the subgenre produce, you'd better forget about this one. Like I said, it's interesting and a bit out of the ordinary and if you are looking for that, check this one out. But it sure isn't my cup of tea. 2 stars. (2,4)