Toh Imago

With "Imago Mundi", their fourth effort, Asgard cancelled the first era of their career. and what a way to say momentarily goodbye! To go on after the splendorous "Arkana" was indeed a titanic task, and Asgard managed to do it quite well due to the exciting combination of talent and conviction that takes place all throughout the repertoire. The conceptual unity of the album (a travel through the lands of myths and legends) actually helps to construe a coherent sequential link between all tracks. The overall result is both excellent and appealing, thanks to the infusion of a more pronounced hard rocking edge into their basic symphonic colorfulness incarnated in attractive melody lines, effective keyboard orchestrations, and cohesive interplaying: at times you can really tell that these guys have gotten immersed in the pompous, bombastic spirit of the best prog rock.