Vegard Sverre Tveitan is back with the closing chapter of his proposed trilogy which saw him shed off the shackles of his former band (who will not be named in this review) and release ‘The Adversary’ 2006 and ‘angL’ 2008. As one would expect it continues to build upon the extreme progressive roots of the first couple of albums and sees Ihsahn collaborating with Spiral Architects Asgeir Mickelson on drums and Lars K. Norberg on bass. However one other contribution really makes its stamp on the album and is the exceptional performance of Jorgen Munkeby of Shining (Norway) on saxophone. In fact 2010 could be the year that reintroduces the sax as the sex, what with this and the new Sigh album and that is no bad thing in my book.
Laid out over an eight month period and mixed by Jens Borgen (Katatonia, Opeth) as you would expect these eight compositions are incredibly well constructed and sound excellent. Having said that the jury is out on the cover art which I really do not like and seems perhaps too self indulgent in whatever it is trying to say for its own good, luckily we are not judging a book by its cover here.
We start at ‘The Barren Lands’ with guitars forlornly weeping away before drums crash in and then the familiar vocal roar. You instantly identify the singer and feel in a familiar, comfortable place but of course all is not going to be as it seems. The guitar signatures and melody is pure Ihsahn and the twists and turns are in line with what we have heard on the past couple of albums. This is a subtle start if anything and it puts the pieces together adding a touch of clean vocals and a spiralling guitar solo. ‘A Grave Inversed’ goes and adds the fury, in fact this sounds like it has the sort of punch encountered in Peccatum at their most strident as it flails in. The sax parps in and for the first time catches you off-guard as it goes into dizzying solo play and adds a drop of King Crimson, Frank Zappa etched insanity into things. Yep extreme prog is a great description for this. After that we have (well) ‘After’ a mellow and subtle affair and one that sounds like it could have dropped off Opeth’s ‘Damnation’ in parts, well if were not for the more urgent vocal growls.
A couple of numbers hit the ten minute mark and paint both hard and soft musical textures. ‘Undercurrent’ is totally chilled as it picks you up dreamily and babbles away. When the saxophone comes in it is completely maudlin and sorrowful and heralds the calm waters into rapids, then whoosh you are plummeted into a headlong drop. It’s a totally involving and brilliantly constructed number. Old fashioned sounding keyboards are dug up in ‘Austere’ and again I cannot help make mellow Opeth comparisons as well as perhaps a touch of Amorphis about things. Final number ‘On The Shores’ is a real spine-tingler again due to the gloomy atmosphere invoked by the sax. If anything I am reminded of Mick Karn’s mesmerising contributions to Japan and here it is a real scene stealer which if anything even goes as far as to detract from Ihsahn’s vocals.
This is an album that was actually easier to get into and to grips with than I thought it was going to be. If it had been the first part of the trilogy or my first encounter with Ihsahn’s solo output I guess that probably would not have been the case. I also ‘think’ that I have enjoyed it more than the previous two parts and would love to have the time to sit down and listen to all three parts back to back, something I intend to do at the earliest available opportunity. So what comes after ‘After?’
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