August 28, 1994 - Epilog

Almost three months after my last release and two years since their debut "Hybris", Änglagård released their second album "Epilog" on August 28, 1994. They have the same line-up, but Tord Lindman is now just a guitarist and there is no singer at all on this album. Their last album was mostly instrumental anyway and I wasn't a big fan of Lindman's vocals so I think this is a move in the right direction. Let's check out some instrumental Änglagård!

The album begins with a short "Prolog" which opens with some light flute and keyboards from Anna Holmgren and Thomas Johnson before some light guitars from Lindman and Jonas Engdegard join in. There are three guest musicians throughout the album on violin, viola and cello and we hear the strings section quietly at first, but for the second of the two minutes everyone gets louder and the strings take over as the loudest of them all. It's a solid little opener and it sets the stage for the longest track on the album "Höstsejd" which is over fifteen minutes long! Johnson starts us off with a cool keyboard riff and Mattias Olsson and Johan Hogberg provide a solid rhythm section while the guitars and the strings play some nice epic stuff overtop. The music has a pretty eerie and dark-ish feel to it and things sound pretty cool. Holmgren finally joins in with some nice flute and then they shift nicely to a new riff led by some cool guitars from both Lindman and Engdegard playing different riffs. They slow things down and Johnson resumes the opening keyboard riff, and Holmgren plays a short bit of flute before they really kick things into gear with a fast-paced new riff. This part sounds pretty awesome and has some great contributions from everyone at some point as they play a long and pretty sweet "verse". This long track has lots of different sections to it and the next one has Johnson playing some nice old school organ and along with Holmgren's flute things have a cool early Jethro Tull vibe. Hogberg's bass in the background is pretty solid as well and one of the guitarists plays a solid little riff to make another cool "verse" with no vocals, but plenty of things still going on as everyone plays their own stuff, but harmoniously. From here they eventually seamlessly shift into a slightly faster riff with some cool guitar and then things go silent for a second before Johnson comes in with a catchy piano riff and Holmgren then plays some epic flute overtop. Johnson's piano picks up the pace and sounds great as they build right back into the awesome long first "verse". They alternate between the quieter piano and flute and the louder guitar-led part very nicely for a little bit and then things go really quiet as we reach a slow trippy part that is a bit King Crimson-esque. They slowly build off this and eventually things are really raging with some great flute, drums, bass, guitars and keyboards all mixing together in a chaotic sea of madness that sounds pretty sweet. This part takes us right to the end of the song and we hear one last quiet guitar bit to finish off this fifteen and a half minute epic. Track 3 is "Rösten" and it lasts a mere 14 seconds! We hear some noises that just sounds like someone shuffling boxes around, and then it's over! I understand little interlude songs, but this one had no substance at all. The next track is back to being lengthy at just under 11 minutes and is called "Skogsranden". It opens with some light piano by Johnson and Holmgren plays some cool slow flute overtop to match the dreary mood. Some light guitar is next to join, and then the strings add another layer to things. Hogberg then comes in with some cool bass as everyone is playing some slow and solid stuff but Olsson. After a little bit longer they finally snap into a louder and very prog-y riff with Olsson finally joining with some cool drums while everyone provides some solid contributions. Johnson's keyboards sound especially awesome at several points but everyone is playing some cool stuff that all mixes together for some organized Chaos that sounds pretty cool. After a couple minutes of nicely jamming they quiet things down once again as Johnson plays a fast and repetitive keyboard riff to keep the pace, Lindman adds some light guitar and we hear some high-pitched wordless vocals that sound alright in the background. Holmgren takes over the lead with a cool flute riff and Hogberg plays some nice bass as well while the light guitar continues. Johnson's keyboards return and after playing some light stuff he takes over the lead and they smash nicely into another loud part with some great keyboards, guitars, drums, bass and flute! Everyone is playing their own thing but everything sounds great, with Johnson's keyboards once again shining. This takes us right to the end of the song and the loud parts were pretty awesome, and the slower parts were solid as well to make a nice progressive song. Track 5 is another long song titled "Sista Somrar" which is a little over thirteen minutes. Johnson plays some ominous piano as we hear some flute in the background in this quiet opening and things remain fairly quiet for the first several minutes, but eventually we hear some cool strings as well as some solid flute from Holmgren. Just before the 4 minute mark they snap into a new much louder riff and like most of their louder parts, things are very prog-y and pretty cool as we hear some nice guitars, bass, drums, flute and keyboards all mixing together very nicely for yet another pretty sweet "verse". Words don't properly do justice to all the cool little bits and pieces that are in these long "verses" but there's lots of cool stuff. After a little more than 2 minutes, things get very quiet again and we a high-pitched voice that sounds eerie and epic that sets the stage nicely for another loud part that comes thundering in with some cool , well, everything! Hogberg's bass stands out and sounds very interesting at times, and they nicely crash back into this new loud riff a couple times and everything sounds pretty cool. Just before the 10 minute mark we're back to quiet again as we hear some light guitar and Holmgren takes the lead with some nice slow flute. This riff slowly builds into a decently loud riff and Holmgren continues to play some cool flute as the guitars get louder and louder until we come to another shift. All we hear now is some light percussion by Olsson and some quiet keyboards by Johnson that bring this song to a close. The final track on the album is another short 2 minute song called "Saknadens Fullhet" and Johnson plays the whole song by himself with a quiet piano riff that sounds sad but also pretty epic. It's a decent little song and an interesting way to end the album.

That is the end of "Epilog" and I thought it was another solid album from these 90s prog-rockers. Two of the shorter songs were solid (one was practically non-existent) and all three of the long songs were pretty good. I especially love the louder parts where everybody is playing an organized chaos but Anglagard do a great job at connecting all these little parts into an interesting and exciting song. I also really loved that there was no singing from Lindman and I think it definitely made things better. Their debut album "Hybris" was also pretty good and the music followed the same lines, but because of the sifinf on 3 of the 4 tracks, my favourite of the two is this newer effort. This was meant to be their final album, hence the name, but there might just be a surprise in the future!