My previous experience with this band was not ideal, I perhaps was just not impressed enough to review their previous album, ‘The 3rd Majesty’, not because it wasn’t hyper talented trio but rather more to do with the more overt technical displays that have always bothered my enjoyment of ELP, actually daring to prefer Triumvirat. Speed and inhuman talent have never electrified me more than subtlety and emotion. That being dutifully stated, Thor Erik Helgesen is a world class keyboardist that Emerson would surely approve , Dag Olav Husas can bang a gong and pretty much any other rhythmic implement put in front of him and Havard Rasmussen plays bass with invincible abandon.
Being firmly open to changing or even reversing my opinion, I must admit that I found enjoyment in this 2025 essay, the title track affecting my positive judgement on multiple fronts from the very fist minute ,“The Fever” increasingly affecting my body temperature and shifting my preconceptions away from any past barriers. What happened is quite simple, the endless variations came unexpected as opposed to predictable, the attention to constant detail clearly emitting a maturity that I had not easily detected before. Little inserts of e-piano, bold swerves that caught me often unawares, even Thor’s vocals were way more polished than before. There was also a well-practiced decision to concentrate on the bass guitar work to better appreciate the contrasts between the overt and the covert deliberations, a method I may have neglected back in 2023. Guilty as charged. This middle track restored my feelings for the better, solidified by the more ambient and experimental finale.
The Kraken-esque colossus “False Dawn” nails it finally, and with a nearly 25-minute running time, the trio takes us on a pan-global tour, dealing out every card in the deck, unhindered and free of any restraint. There is no doubt at all that the preferred style is glowingly retro but so is Bach and Mozart , yet the sheer musicianship cannot leave anyone indifferent. In fact, this album is better than many of the latter day ELP and Triumvirat albums were the inspiration eventually ran out of ideas and switched lanes towards overtly accessible fluff, that ultimately doomed both giants. In my mind, not sure AI in all its algorithmic splendour could ever hope to emulate (I repeat, emulate) this torrent of inspired playing. The chemistry between these three musicians is undeniable, team players with a mission to continue to boldly go beyond the expected norm , even if it looks back lovingly to the past for inspiration.
4 Norse madcaps