Anglagard

For many prog heads the legendary progressive rock band Änglagård belongs to the best Swedish prog bands. Their music, mostly inspired by King Crimson, certainly contains great moments and their short back catalogue of only three studio albums feature some outstanding pieces.
In March 2013 Änglagård played a series of three concerts at Club Citta, Tokyo in Japan to promote their latest studio album Viljans Öga (2012). At the time they were sharing the bill with The Crimson ProjeKCt. This live CD contains songs from all three studio albums. In addition to the older pieces, you also get one brand new piece on this record, namely Introvertus Fugu, part I, which was previously unreleased. This new piece shows that the band can still write fantastic prog rock tunes!

Swedish band Änglagård is part of a whole breed of young progressive rockers who have cut their teeth on King Crimson's Red. Like the other Crimson Swedes, Anekdoten, Änglagård crams angular hooks and start/stop tempos into every moment they can spare. Writing lengthy symphonic pieces, the band sound like many big '70s acts but always play with a very tough sound. Meaty bass and scorched guitar tones duel it out with organ, mellotron, and hyperactive drumming, while folky Swedish singing and flute occasionally break the tension.

According to Anglagard‘s own discography, playing at Progfest in 1993 was one of their earliest live gigs. The young group at work had just released their first album Hybris and what you hear is a young group at work whose ambition and hunger steamrolled over their few deficiencies. This debut album and its follow up Epilog were two of the first to light a fire under what was a growing revival in the symphonic progressive rock of the 70s…

Änglagård is probably the first band of the 90s to have become a legend of Progressive rock, and to have been considered at the same level as the 70s giants. "Buried Alive" is an album that was issued after the split-up and that consists of the almost complete show there, one hour fifteen minutes of 100% instrumental and breathtaking music. Let's just say that the audience could feel privileged to witness such a memorable moment… And this shows on the album! The art of Änglagård can be characterized by a touch of Genesis-like arpeggios, Yes-like virtuosity, some soft flute melodies, a few bits of local folk, sudden Mellotron apparitions and unexpected, violent King Crimson-like moments (Always beautifully controlled and performed). All of this also shows a paradoxically well defined personality mainly due to its quite Scandinavian and immediately recognizable melancholy…

Take a modern progressive rock fan and let him listen to the first notes of "A Drop of Light", debut album from a new project called All Traps on Earth: we have no doubt that it will take him a few seconds only to recall a name that has become a legend of Scandinavian symphonic prog: Änglagård! As a matter of fact, All Traps on Earth is the name chosen by Änglagård's founding member and bassist Johan Brand for this project of his, involving keyboard player Thomas Johnson and drummer / percussionist Erik Hammarström from the same 'source band'. They are joined by Johan's talented daughter, Miranda Brand on vocals, as well as a plethora of guests from the Swedish scene…

Necromonkey is the collaboration between drummer Mattias Olsson who was part of the founding members of swedish band Änglagård, of which he left in 2012, and keyboardist David Lundberg from Gösta Berlings Saga. The two first met in 2008 while working on Gösta Berlings Saga's second album Detta har hänt and thought about working together. 2010 saw the begining of the writing and recording for their first album Necroplex in Olsson's Roth-Händle studios in Stockholm. Their vision was not about making an Änglagård meets Gösta Berlings Saga kind of album but instead focusing on something new which will reflect everything they love in music. Necroplex was released in 2013 and showed how fertile this duo is, making an album deeply rooted in modern electronic but still incorporates a huge amount of acoustic and electric instruments. Olsson and Lundberg both handle most of the instruments, aided by a big line up of session musicians. The two didn't wait long before releasing a second album, A Glimpse Of Possible Endings is already finished and due to be released in 2014.

Thieves' Kitchen, a trio of Phil Mercy, Amy Darby, and Thomas Johanson (ex-Anglagard), with adjunct members Anna Holmgren (Anglagard), Johan Brand (Anglagard) and Paul Mallyon (ex-Sanguine Hum), have created a collection of meticulously crafted and expertly performed songs in the vein of the most complex Canterbury scene and symphonic Yes demanding the highest degrees of difficulty from its musicians. Vocalist Amy Darby's stylings are similar to the palette-clearing effects of a superlative red wine - the backbone upon which each song rests, despite the fact that it is a "lead" instrument…

8 years after "Fools Journey" the follow up "Brill" is finally out. And this time The New Grove Project hit the big drums. In best Scandinavian progressive manner we get 7 tracks of good music, ending with the 24 minute title track. The mind goes to The Flower Kings & IQ as well as hints of Änglagård, to mention a few. But what could be expected from a band with the line up of Ingemar Hjertqvist: Vocals, John BoBo Bollenberg (The Bollenberg Experience): Vocals, Fredy Schnyder (Ex-Thonk, Nucleus Torn) on guitars, mandolin, hammered dulcimer, keyboards, & grand piano, Andre Schornoz (Swiss Gamblers) on bass guitar, Hasse Bruniusson (Ex-Samla Mammas Manna & Flying Food Circus) on drums and percussion, Jode Leigh (Ex-England): Drums, piano and synthesizers and spoken words and finally Pär Lindh: On Hammond organ, grand piano and mellotron! Swedish progressive rock in the vein of The Flower Kings or Änglagård.

Without a question this is an awesome recording and a necessity in anyone’s progressive rock collection. Absolutely brilliant progressive rock.
Bubu was born in the mid of the 1970s, created by composer Daniel Andreoli. In the midst of a turbulent time in Argentina's history, Bubu struck the local music scene with an exceptional music, breaking schemes already imposed by the existing rock, mixing symphonic melodies and harmonies with the characteristical ecstasy and frenzy of progressive rock. "Anabelas" (1978) consists of three long epic compositions, and features mostly instrumental music that sounds like a cross of early King Crimson, Magma and Anglagard. Bubu was quite a large band and actually with a wide range of talent and instrumentation…