Fuel to the fire for those who accuse prog of being overblown
Artiste: Isildurs Bane
Nationality: Swedish
Album: MIND Vol 1
Year: 1997
Label: Self-released on their own label
Genre: Progressive Rock
Tracks:
The flight onward, phases 1-5
Ataraxia
In a state of comprehension
The pilot
Unity
Opportunistic walk phases 1-2
Holistic medicine
A blank page
Chronological position: Eighth album
Familiarity: Zero
Interesting factoid: Isildurs Bane's first two albums were in Swedish, but their first album to have an English title was ... instrumental! Er, and so is this...
Initial impression: Prog rock with strong classical leanings
Best track(s): Ataraxia, Unity, A blank page
Worst track(s): Holistic medicine
Comments: It's sort of hard to categorise this music, which is I think how the band would prefer it to be seen. There's heavy organ, violin and flute, some sound effects and quite a lot of brass, while fairly sharp guitar makes its presence known too. And this is all in the first track, which is admittedly just over twelve minutes long. Utilising what I believe would be the traditions of the likes of King Crimson and Floyd and marrying these to jazz fusion and some fairly experimental styles, Isildurs Bane have come up with what comes across as a pretty unique sound. Considering that they're from Sweden, there are some quite celtic overtones to the music, as well as African influences, particularly in the marimbas and percussion.
As it happens, the title is an acronym: MIND stands for Music Investigating New Dimensions, which is certainly something that you see happening on this album. There are three other MIND albums, discounting one double live one, and I'd be interested to hear them, as each seems as different from the other as it is possible to be, while still linking them as a concept. It's not until MIND Vol 4, however, released in 2003, that there are vocals added to the album, so don't expect any here. But then, with music this deep and imaginative, who needs a singer? After the twelve-minute opener,
Ataraxia is carried on slow soft violin and classical guitar, its haunting lyricism faded away all too soon, while the next few tracks are also short, by comparison, the longest hitting just over five and a half minutes.
Unity in particular is a beautiful little slow piece on piano and violin. Exquisite.
Then, as if to make up for the shortness of the last three tracks, the next two are fifteen minutes each! In some ways though, the longer tracks give me a feeling more of self-indulgence, and with little samples thrown in along with sound effects and voices, it often feels more that Isildurs Bane are putting in things to be seen as clever and innovative and different, but really it comes across as a little contrived. In particular, the voice reading out chess moves at the beginning of
Holistic medicine, which the band describe on their website as a “complex collage piece”, reeks to me of the “look-at-us-aren't-we-clever” factor. The voiceover carries well into the third minute, which really extends the idea too far for me.
The instrumentation, when it gets going, on that track is nice, especially the guitar, but that annoying voice continues rambling on right to the end, and it's more than irritating now. You've made your point guys: give it a rest, yeah?
Overall impression: Arty, proggy in places but overall the sense of self-importance and elitism leave me with negative feelings about this album that I really wish I hadn't got.
Intention: I'm really not too sure.