FROM WITHIN

A small four years between Nucleus and this third effort, this had us worried for the group's future. When it did finally come out, the group toured Western Europe, and a buddy of mine (not the same as previously) had them play in a converted barn in the middle of nowhere. From the looks of the artwork, this album was not to be in any lighter mood than the previous two, this time keeping the illustration to a very dark minimum. While retaining its own personality, From Within was a bit of a return to Vemod's template, but clearly the album's themes were incredibly intimate and personal. The group uses a wider array of instruments, mostly in the keyboard dept, this time mostly handled by Anna-Sofi, thus reversing the oddity of Nucleus.

Right from the opening notes of the title track, you can feel that the melancholy is back , replacing the oppression so present in the previous Nucleus, but the album seems to really begin with Kiss Of Life and its great energy. Groundbound and Slow Fire (already available through the Live Bootleg album) are average track and could almost qualify as a filler if we did not know of its longer existence than most of its sister-tracks. The album centrepiece is the 11-min+ Hole, that hasn't held the distance (in terms of durability) as the middle part is a bit empty for a crescendo. One of the few highlights of this album is the tense Sun Absolute, which shines like a lone star in a rather empty galaxy. This track is a slow building crescendo that has us climbing up the walls for delivery, which, unfortunately, fails to come. Instead, we are soothed with a sappy, insipid and unsavoury ballad.

Some detractors might argue of this album's vacuity, which is a defendable theory that relies on the almost greater dependence on delicate atmospheres, and while at first I thought this album as good as the debut, I must say that repeated listens have slowly eroded its varnish, but it remains a classic, even if Anekdoten would need to reinvent themselves very soon for fear of stagnation. Not really as essential as the first two albums, this might just be one of their weaker albums in the long run. Almost a non-event.