LANDBERK - ONE MAN TELLS ANOTHER - 1994

An Excellent Crimsonique album!

Another band in the vein of King Crimson. In fact, the music is very similar with Anekdoten who also took King Crimson as reference point. For those of you who are longing for the return of old style King Crimson, this album might cure. Why do I say it in the vein of King Crimson? For sure the rhythm section and beats combined with the dark nuance created from almost all songs here reflect the way Crimson defined their music before Discipline album.

The album kicks off wonderfully with "Time" which combines upbeat tempo and dark nuance. It flows smoothly to the next track "Kontiki" with its mellow style and tight basslines, eerie vocal line which suits the music really well. The only difference this track with typical King Crimson's early albums is the riffs at the opening. It's not as rough as "21st Century of Schizoid Man" (King Crimson's first album) but it indicates different approach. This song is so dark especially when mellotron work enters at the background followed with stunning acoustic guitar fills. It's very King Crimson! I remember "Starless and Bible Black".

"Mirror Man" is very dark and melancholic - it has touchy melody throughout the song. The opening part is an ambient guitar and keyboard work followed with soft entrance of vocal line, wonderfully. Right after the first lyrical verse, the guitar fills enter the music as a break before next verse. What happen is that the next after lyrical verse the guitar fills performance by Reine Fiske - oh .. it's really nice! The mellotron work gives darker nuance of the song. I love the interlude part which has weird sound effects followed with wonderful guitar fills. This track has become one of my favorites.

"You Are" is another excellent track with guitar fills reflecting dark nuance followed with vocal line. Again, bass guitar plays very important role during this part and it has relatively close to the music approach. "Rememberence" continues the same style as previous tracks. "Valentinsong" is an excellent composition with great vocal line. The album concludes with another good track "Tell".

Overall, this is an excellent album from Sweden's symphonic prog band heavily influenced by the music of King Crimson. If you like mellotron and early style of symphonic prog, you would enjoy this album. The similarities in style are the same with King Crimson and Anekdoten. If you love Van der Graaf Generator, you might have a chance liking this album. Keep on proggin' ..!
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