Review Summary: Through the settling napalm dust I see your silhouette weep
Anders Bjorler has had a pretty prolific music career thus far. He founded two bands, At the Gates and the Haunted, the former being one of the frontrunners of the melodic death metal scene during the 90’s. It’s fair to say that the majority of his career has been in the metal genre, and as is common with quite a number of musicians, one major genre isn’t enough to reflect their musical influences. This is where
Antikythera comes in.
The path on which
Antikythera treads is made primarily of post rock, jazz, and scratches the surface of progressive rock. There are no hints of the death or thrash metal roots on which Anders built his career. The album is predominantly instrumental in nature and is pretty minimalistic. The brooding atmosphere is the maintained throughout the album with the abstract visual themes incorporated in the music video being a fitting representation of how the music feels.
Although the album doesn’t contain any lyrics, it does feel like a concept album. A handful of songs transition smoothly into the successive songs, giving a sense of continuity. There are also reprisals of earlier themes as the album progresses, however some of them feel contrived and don’t feel very natural. The varying song lengths can feel a bit jarring as well, as there are quite a few songs that are under the two minute mark.
The distorted guitar tones aren’t used very liberally on the album and are mainly in a supporting role as opposed to the driving force of the music. The bulk of the guitar work consists of clean and lead tones. Even though the music isn’t really challenging, the musicianship is pretty good. This is a result of the acclaimed rhythm section comprising of Morgan Agren (Kaipa, Fredrik Thordendal's Special Defects) and Dick Lovgren (Meshuggah), that provide solid foundations for the songs and do get a little adventurous when given some freedom. Both musicians have a background in jazz, and it definitely shows in the precision of their playing. Guest saxophone player Anders Gabrielson focuses much more on melody than complex leads which fits the music perfectly. Rounding off the lineup are Per Wiberg and Carl Svensson playing the piano and additional guitars respectively.
The production is quite rich, especially of the bass, and the soundscape is quite expansive, however overall it does feel a little overproduced and glossy. On the other hand the mix is stellar, with the rhythm section being quite high. With all of these elements in place you would expect the album to be impeccable. Unfortunately after I completed the album there was a lot left to be desired. It’s not a bad album at all, but it just feels like it could have been so much more. Some songs start with some interesting melodies and ideas but don’t really take them further and end up repeating them without really much else happening. There are pretty good foundations, yet the meat of the music feels lacking. Even with the genres integrated in the record it doesn’t feel very diverse. There isn’t too much experimentation on offer and this adds to the music feeling slightly stagnant.
Even with all of my qualms I can respect this piece of work since its Anders' debut solo album, and he has explored a music style that is fairly new to him. The atmosphere is dark and there are memorable melodies on offer, with this being an album that will be enjoyed more as a complete package.
