Review Summary: Taking a step forward: another magnificent release by the Swede adventure rockers.
As they finished telling the fantastical stories of their fictional hero, (all of their previous releases were connected by a storyline), by releasing
Isle Of Wisdom a "new era" has dawned for Hällas, which was a perfect opportunity to try something different… and they did so! It’s clearly observable they effectuated some minor changes into their signature sound. To put this simply: this came from sacrifices on the altar of the progressive rock gods, at the cost of catchiness.
…and the gods have listened. Indeed, in the new Hällas release they adopted
even more elements from the toolset of iconic bands like
Yes and
Genesis, and this opened a new chapter in the band’s story.
In
Isle Of Wisdom the adventurous ideas (and basically the characteristic prog rock traits: complex rhythms, playful melodies etc.) now took a far bigger portion from the album’s structure compared to their previous releases. Thus, this album has a noticeably different flow and atmosphere. For example, those who expected another
“Star Rider” from this album, might feel a bit disappointed because
Isle Of Wisdom didn’t put too much emphasis on delivering such catchy earworms. Instead, the band focused on shining their
virtuosity, so they could create a more complex and colorful sonical voyage. From this aspect, this goal was achieved. For example, in
”Advent of Dawn” dark and mysterious tone meets the listeners in the second half of the song (that menacing melody is definitely one of the best moments on the album), which is a clearly new feature in their repertoire. Other excellent indicators of this colorfulness are songs like
”The Inner Chamber” (big
Jethro Tull moments) and
”Gallivants (Of Space)” (stepping into heavy metal territories here, also wonderful new age worship moments in the second half), and in my opinion exactly these songs are the album’s pinnacles as well. On the other hand, Hällas still remains Hällas, so the synergy between the classy guitarwork, the cosmic synths and Tommy Alexandersson’s very unique vocals is undeniable, and in my opinion no change could ever harm the charm of their music, it was just evolution - and there is no evolution without changes!
In conclusion,
Isle Of Wisdom is another excellent addition to Hällas’ super consistent discography. A very pleasant, interesting and adventurous progressive rock release, even though they have slightly changed their style for this album. But in my opinion, this was a quite essential part of their development, and the final result is more than admirable for all generations.
