Snurb writes:

It's been some time since we last heard from Progressive Rock band Landberk (their last CD Indian Summer came out in 1996), but most of its band members have kept busy in the meantime. Guitarist Reine Fiske and bassist Stefan Dimle teamed up with two musicians from fellow Swedes Anekdoten to record the masterpiece Symphonic Holocaust under the band name Morte Macabre - a heavy instrumental workout inspired in the main by horror b-movie soundtracks à la Goblin. More recently, Fiske and Dimle have formed Paatos with Petronella and Huxflux Nettermalm (on vocals and drums, respectively) and Johan Wallén on keyboards, thereby poaching members from another group of fellow travellers, Ägg. I reviewed their advance vinyl single "Paatos" in 2001; now, Paatos' first full-length CD must show whether it can live up to expectations.

On a number of the five songs included on this somewhat short album (clocking in just under 40 minutes), the Landberk influence is quite obvious, due in good part to the presence of Fiske's signature style (which seemed far more subdued on the Morte Macabre disc). The music for "They Are Beautiful", in fact, was co-written by Landberk singer Patric Helje, and the opening track "Sensor" would not seem out of place, say, on that band's album One Man Tells Another - except for the female vocals, of course. Petronella Nettermalm's voice, in turn, with its ever so slight Scandinavian accent, reminds me of Sylvia Erichsen's wonderful vocals on the latest White Willow album Sacrament.

One of the highlights of this CD, for me, is the Swedish-language "Téa", a lullaby to the Nettermalms' baby daughter (as much as I can make out without learning the language) which bears some resemblance to Landberk's beautiful "Undrar om ni ser". It would be nice to hear more of this - Landberk, too, always seemed at their most powerful when working in their native language. Comparisons with their Swedish and Norwegian contemporaries are also appropriate for the overall mood of the album, a melancholy vemod which has become something of a trademark for Scandinavian Progressive Rock bands of the last decade (as reflected, indeed, in the title of Anekdoten's first CD, Vemod). The customarily heavy dose of Mellotron in the keyboard mix also helps, of course. But Timeloss is no Prog-by-numbers exercise - while clearly emerging from a well-established tradition, this is a band well on the way to finding its own voice.

The greatest surprise of the Paatos CD, in fact, is the final track, "Quits" (not a prediction of the band's fate, one would hope). While maintaining much of the Paatos sound established over the preceding four songs, this is a downright danceable number which over the course of its 12 minutes even strays into drum'n'bass territory. Even more surprising, this unlikely Prog/d'n'b mix works, as does the appearance of a sax/trumpet/trombone section towards the end of the track. While Landberk seemed to turn towards a more straightforward contemporary rock sound on Indian Summer, losing some Proggy elements while gaining little in return, Paatos manage an unexpectedly successful style synthesis here.

In all, though, this band is still much closer to Prog than dance - drum'n'bass purists need not apply, while hardcore Progressive Rock fanboys may also find that "Quits" undermines their enjoyment of this CD. But for the majority of fans who have an interest in music beyond Progressive Rock, Timeloss is time well spent, and an intriguing first glimpse at what I would hope to be an ongoing project. Short as it is, Timeloss keeps us guessing as to whether "Quits" is a one-time experiment from an otherwise straight-ahead Prog band - and if so, Paatos would still be a welcome update of the Landberk sound -, or whether it is an indication that the band plan to use their Progressive Rock background as a base for further stylebending explorations.

Details

Timeloss, by Paatos.
Stockholm Records, 2002.
40 mins.