Revisiting Anglagard's Viljans Öga

[Sputnik]

I love Anglagard's first two albums, the debut in particular. When it was announced they'd be doing a new one in 2012, I was psyched, and got Viljans Öga without bothering with a sample. Auto buy. So here it is, five years later and I realize I've barely ever spun this album. I recall back in 2012 not being so blown away by it. I think I sort of left it and just never returned.

I'm setting out to change that. I gave it a fresh listen last night. I heard some parts that I'd either forgotten or had overlooked that I liked a lot. The ending of Snardom, for example is outstanding... chill inducing even. And there were lot's of other little moments that definitely grabbed my attention in a positive way. So it's not like the record is bereft of stuff I like.

However (there's always a however, isn't there ), I did notice my attention drifting a lot on the first two tracks. And the "evil circus" part in the last song has always annoyed me a bit. I guess I feel this has been done to death and that Anglagard has always been able to skirt playing stuff that is recognizable without treading too-familiar territory.

So, in all, this album remains a bit a of a mixed bag for me. In theory, I should like it as much as the more recent stuff by Kotebel, or even as much as the first two Anglagard albums. At the moment I don't, but I'm not giving up so easily on this one. I'm going to put this into regular rotation and try to get my ears around it.

I'm curious what other's reactions are to this album now with five years of perspective? If you like it, can you tell me why and give me some things to listen for that maybe I'm missing? I'm going to try to approach this one with fresh ears and I'd like to hear other perspectives.

Cheers,

Bill

[arturs]

I think it is as brilliant as the first two, filled with more subtle pleasures. So it hasn't gotten a tremendous amount of play from me, but I spend some quality time with it every few months.

[miamiscot]

It might just be my favorite of the three...

[Facelift]

I love Anglagard's first two albums, the debut in particular. When it was announced they'd be doing a new one in 2012, I was psyched, and got Viljans Öga without bothering with a sample. Auto buy. So here it is, five years later and I realize I've barely ever spun this album. I recall back in 2012 not being so blown away by it. I think I sort of left it and just never returned.

I'm setting out to change that. I gave it a fresh listen last night. I heard some parts that I'd either forgotten or had overlooked that I liked a lot. The ending of Snardom, for example is outstanding... chill inducing even. And there were lot's of other little moments that definitely grabbed my attention in a positive way. So it's not like the record is bereft of stuff I like.

However (there's always a however, isn't there ), I did notice my attention drifting a lot on the first two tracks. And the "evil circus" part in the last song has always annoyed me a bit. I guess I feel this has been done to death and that Anglagard has always been able to skirt playing stuff that is recognizable without treading too-familiar territory.

So, in all, this album remains a bit a of a mixed bag for me. In theory, I should like it as much as the more recent stuff by Kotebel, or even as much as the first two Anglagard albums. At the moment I don't, but I'm not giving up so easily on this one. I'm going to put this into regular rotation and try to get my ears around it.

I'm curious what other's reactions are to this album now with five years of perspective? If you like it, can you tell me why and give me some things to listen for that maybe I'm missing? I'm going to try to approach this one with fresh ears and I'd like to hear other perspectives.

Cheers,

Bill

It... *sounds* like Anglagard. Dig deeper, though, and that's pretty much the best that can be said about it, IMO. The music is made of up long tracks, portions of which could be thrown into any of the other tracks and nobody would know the differences. Not a very well-composed album.

This isn't the worst thing that can be said about an album, though, and I guess if I found those random sections to be more interesting, I might care about this less. But, I don't. I almost never listen to it, and would have sold it by now, if it wasn't signed.

[chalkpie]

When I first got it, I was a bit lukewarm on it, especially given the tough act(s) to follow. I consider Epilog an absolute masterpiece of composition...a total monster and one of the greatest albums of the past 20 years (yeah, I like it just a bit). Anyway, the "new" one didn't really connect with me until I had it in the car for at least 10 days on repeat mode - I must have spun it like 12-15 times in a row- no joke - and each time it got better and revealed itself. I think its amazing at points, and outstanding overall. Its probably on par with Hybris for my own personal enjoyment, albeit quite different musically - yet a notch or two below the masterpiece Epilog. Its been a while since I busted it out, thx for the reminder, its good autumn music imo. Scandinavia rides again.

[chalkpie]

Not a very well-composed album.

.

I couldn't disagree more. There are themes that swirl around my head for days after I've heard it a few times. Don't state "facts" like this when its just your own subjective opinion, or feel free to add 'imo' after you write it. Its a beautifully composed album IMO.

[NogbadTheBad]

I think it stands up well versus the previous two, it certainly gets as much play here.

[Facelift]

I couldn't disagree more. There are themes that swirl around my head for days after I've heard it a few times. Don't state "facts" like this when its just your own subjective opinion, or feel free to add 'imo' after you write it. Its a beautifully composed album IMO.

Tell you what - I'll state whatever I want however I want, and you'll deal with it. K? If the worst thing to happen to you today is that someone stated an opinion as a fact - and that opinion didn't even concern you - then all is pretty well in Chalkpie-land.


If it's "just my opinion," then the statement should certainly not be very threatening to you.

[bill g]

I've always really enjoyed it. Can't say I like it less or more than the first 2. Hard for me to compare, but certainly in the same league. Revisiting it is a great idea. I think I'll do that within the next couple days after the weather turns.

[Nearfest2]

I couldn't disagree more. There are themes that swirl around my head for days after I've heard it a few times. Don't state "facts" like this when its just your own subjective opinion, or feel free to add 'imo' after you write it. Its a beautifully composed album IMO.

I believe that those themes do not repeat within a particular song as well, correct? I typically like recurring themes, but this album is too good to care about that.

[Poisoned Youth]

I'm curious what other's reactions are to this album now with five years of perspective? If you like it, can you tell me why and give me some things to listen for that maybe I'm missing? I'm going to try to approach this one with fresh ears and I'd like to hear other perspectives.

I don't think you're missing anything. Let's face it, sometimes there is an element you can't replace. In this case it's *magic*. There is something magical about those two albums, when they were made, their place in history, etc. that can't be matched imo. I don't usually focus on these intangibles, but in this case, it rings true for me.

I wouldn't go as far as Facelift, but there is something "average" about Viljans Oga, at least the magic has gone. One of the points in your review meshes with me, that I found my attention drift when listening.

All that said, I should give it a fresh listen.

[Fracktured]

I liked it better than the second one. Still play it once in awhile. And really enjoy the new Kotebel album. I think I'll get plenty of mileage out of that one.


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[Plasmatopia]

When this one came out I got it right away. I had only picked up the first two a year or two before this one. I find them all about equal, but of course they have somewhat different personalities. VO spoke to me the most, though, so I'd give it a slight edge over the others. Haven't heard any of them in a while.

[zeprogmeister]

I don't think you're missing anything. Let's face it, sometimes there is an element you can't replace. In this case it's *magic*. There is something magical about those two albums, when they were made, their place in history, etc. that can't be matched imo. I don't usually focus on these intangibles, but in this case, it rings true for me.

I wouldn't go as far as Facelift, but there is something "average" about Viljans Oga, at least the magic has gone. One of the points in your review meshes with me, that I found my attention drift when listening.

All that said, I should give it a fresh listen.

Yeah that was my opinion as well. It has the Anglagard sound but didn't have the magic for me.

[bill g]

And really enjoy the new Kotebel album. I think I'll get plenty of mileage out of that one.


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I still need to get the new Kotebel. Love Kotebel

[bill g]

Yeah that was my opinion as well. It has the Anglagard sound but didn't have the magic for me.

I may be off base but I wonder if any of the reason for that is that the world (so to speak) has caught up to them and their sound doesn't come across as quite as fresh as it did when no one was sounding anything remotely like them. Their first album was unexpected and exceeded all expectations. By the time of Viljans Oga, the bar, previously low, has been set very high.

[Sputnik]

I think it is as brilliant as the first two, filled with more subtle pleasures.

There might be something to this for me. Hybris basically knocks you on the head, and even Epilog does in its own way, thought it is a more "thoughtful" album. Viljans Öga seems to have even more "pastoral" moments, though it does rock out a lot too. But I think I'm losing attention in the pastoral moments. Hybris remains my favorite, because it really pushes all my un-subtle, Proggy buttons.

It... *sounds* like Anglagard. Dig deeper, though, and that's pretty much the best that can be said about it, IMO. The music is made of up long tracks, portions of which could be thrown into any of the other tracks and nobody would know the differences.

I hear this. I actually feel this way about some of Anglagard's earlier stuff as well, it gets a bit "arbitrary" for me. But there's something very organic about how the stuff on Hybris develops to me, and Epilog, even if it does sound a bit "random" sometimes. I'm not sure if that's missing on Viljans Öga or not, that's what I'm trying to get to the bottom of.

I don't think you're missing anything. Let's face it, sometimes there is an element you can't replace. In this case it's *magic*. There is something magical about those two albums, when they were made, their place in history, etc. that can't be matched imo. I don't usually focus on these intangibles, but in this case, it rings true for me.

I wouldn't go as far as Facelift, but there is something "average" about Viljans Oga, at least the magic has gone. One of the points in your review meshes with me, that I found my attention drift when listening.

All that said, I should give it a fresh listen.

Hmmm, possibly. It is true that my head sort of exploded when I first heard Hybris. I'm not usually one to give in to that sort of thing, but maybe that is an issue in this case. I'm not sure.

I may be off base but I wonder if any of the reason for that is that the world (so to speak) has caught up to them and their sound doesn't come across as quite as fresh as it did when no one was sounding anything remotely like them. Their first album was unexpected and exceeded all expectations. By the time of Viljans Oga, the bar, previously low, has been set very high.

No doubt, they set the bar high. But Viljans Öga isn't that different to me from the past three Kotebel albums, and I love them. I'm not sure they are up there with Hybris for me, but I don't lose attention when listening to them. Even if Viljans Öga isn't up to "Hybris/Epilog standards," you'd think I'd like it more than I do.

I think it needs more time and more spins with greater regularity. I need to get my ears around it better, particularly the more "subtle" parts. Not my strong suit.

Good feedback everybody, fun discussion so far.

Bill

[arturs]

^^^ [Edit: I was responding to bill g] Absolutely VO isn't the jaw-dropper that Hybris was a quarter-century ago. And part of that is specifically because Hybris and Epilog were so successful.

But if you are a fan, I think there is enough new meat on the "formula" that it remains highly compelling. Think of it like a new Mozart symphony. You've heard the style before, but the themes and melodies are still highly satisfying.

[Zappathustra]

That's the kind of posts I like! I was listening this sometime in the summer and had some thoughts.

First -and easy - reading is that it's a very good record but just a bit inferior to the 90's duo, that the magic is not there etc. That's the reading I had, at least.

But the real question to ask is in what way is it different from albums that came 20 years before it. The sound is the same, the material is the same, but the compositional structure is quite different. This is not the plethora of recurring themes of Hybris, but more the deconstructing of melody into vaguely familiar pieces, as in Sorgmantel and Snardom (I am trying to explain this in my own words but it's not easy to grasp it...)

So this music approaches avant-garde territory, which also explains the waning attention (yours, mine, I had the same problem with it the first listens). It is more demanding stuff and needs more effort, and it is unfair to just dismiss it as a slightly inferior Epilog, because it is essentially a different kind of work, one to be judged on other terms. I think its structure is tight as hell, just more complex.

I consider it overall as an exellent comeback, and one that solidifies the uniqueness of their voice.

[Mark Newman]

It is more demanding stuff and needs more effort, and it is unfair to just dismiss it as a slightly inferior Epilog, because it is essentially a different kind of work, one to be judged on other terms. I think its structure is tight as hell, just more complex.

I consider it overall as an exellent comeback, and one that solidifies the uniqueness of their voice.

I think you nailed it. I admit that I am biased because I'm such a huge fan of the band, but I think this record is too easily dismissed because its appeal is not as immediate as the band's previous efforts. It rewards subsequent listens, which is a measure of many great records.

[Sputnik]

That's the kind of posts I like! I was listening this sometime in the summer and had some thoughts.

First -and easy - reading is that it's a very good record but just a bit inferior to the 90's duo, that the magic is not there etc. That's the reading I had, at least.

But the real question to ask is in what way is it different from albums that came 20 years before it. The sound is the same, the material is the same, but the compositional structure is quite different. This is not the plethora of recurring themes of Hybris, but more the deconstructing of melody into vaguely familiar pieces, as in Sorgmantel and Snardom (I am trying to explain this in my own words but it's not easy to grasp it...)

So this music approaches avant-garde territory, which also explains the waning attention (yours, mine, I had the same problem with it the first listens). It is more demanding stuff and needs more effort, and it is unfair to just dismiss it as a slightly inferior Epilog, because it is essentially a different kind of work, one to be judged on other terms. I think its structure is tight as hell, just more complex.

I consider it overall as an exellent comeback, and one that solidifies the uniqueness of their voice.

I think you're onto something, particularly with those bolded parts. The feeling I get from this album is that it's all scored, like a classical piece, and that they are all reading their parts. I can't imagine another way you could write music like this, that lacks, as you say, "recurrence." Of course, there probably is recurrence, but as you are saying, and has been said before, it's more "subtle" and takes a different form here.

Sadly, this is one of my big issues with a lot of classical music, a lot of it seems very arbitrary to me and I don't have the musical patience or desire to parse it all out. There are some classical pieces that grab me immediately, but most I just tune out. This is why I think I like Prog Rock, because it dabbles just enough in that classical ideas to be more interesting to me that most rock music, but doesn't lose my attention by having too many ideas strung together and losing the "thrust" of the piece. To some extent, I'm having that experience with Viljans Öga, but Viljans Öga rocks out more, so I'm more inclined to try! See? Mr. Un-Subtle strikes again.

I also agree, the music is thoroughly tight, it really has to be being so through-composed. I'm not sure about "complexity" per se. In a way it's more complex with more little parts and sections, but I don't think the parts themselves are particularly more complex than Hybris or Epilog, and I also don't think this is in Avant-territory. I think it's pure romantic classical with the added rock elements, and the "complexity" is in the nature of the composition flowing from idea to idea rather that returning to recurring parts or developments over repeated themes.

So, really interesting thoughts. This is helpful and I'm honing down what I'll likely have to do to get my ears around this.

Bill

[Zalmoxe]

For my money, "Snårdom" is the best thing they have ever come up with.

[interbellum]

I think it stands up well versus the previous two, it certainly gets as much play here.

Haven't played it as much as the first one, but it sure stands up well. When you watch the live-DVD Made In Norway the new songs fit perfectly between the old.

[Levgan]

There is something magical about those two albums, when they were made, their place in history, etc. that can't be matched imo. I don't usually focus on these intangibles, but in this case, it rings true for me.

I was not around when Hybris came out, so as much as I like the album, I've always felt its enormous popularity in prog circles was not fully based on its purely musical value, but also on its historical importance. It might have been extraordinary to hear this music done in 1991 when it heralded the entire progressive rock resurgence of the 1990s, but for us youngsters who discovered it as a thing of the past rather than as contemporary work, there was no novelty value. For me Hybris is akin to Frank Zappa's Freak Out – a very influential album, but not one I get back to all that often, and not even my personal favorite in Anglagard's (or Zappa's) discography.

Viljans Oga, conversely, is the first Anglagard album that I discovered as a new, fresh, contemporary recording, and I think it's brilliant – easily as good, if not better than the 1990s albums. There is a certain academic, non-rock flair about those complex through-composed musical patterns, but as a fan of UZ/AZ (to name but one example) it's not a problem for me at all, and I dig the dark Nordic vibe they bring to the proceedings.

[infandous]

Well, I only first heard Hybris and Epilog in 2003 or so (AFTER I saw them live at Nearfest 2003), even though I'd heard of them years earlier. Both albums appealed to me right away, though Epilog took a bit more effort to fully absorb. Still though, I was never totally crazy about them like it seems fans are that heard them when they were released. I'm guessing I would have been too, as in 1991 Hybris would have blown the top of my head completely off. Of course, I might not have even liked it then as I wouldn't have been very open to non-English vocals and I'm not sure my musical sensibilities were quite ready for something like that. At that time I was just starting to really get into PG Genesis, ELP, Gentle Giant, Rush and King Crimson. So it's possible I would have loved it, no way to know now.

I bought VO the second time I heard Anglagard live, at Nearfest 2012. I loved it immediately. In fact, I loved the songs when they played them live, having never heard them before.

I agree with a lot of the comments above, that this is not music that is going to grab you quickly (even prog fans). I also agree that I do have to give it my full attention to really get how great it is. If I'm doing something else, like with a lot of instrumental music (for me, anyway) it kind of just blows past me and I can't remember anything about it.

This album is definitely their most "through-composed" (as someone else put it), certainly the most dense in terms of musical ideas. I'm glad this topic came up though, as I haven't heard it in at least a year and want to break it out again now, so thanks for that!