Anekdoten - Chapters [Album]

Kscope Music

October 6, 2009, 05:09 PM

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"Chapters" is a kind of best of, comprising music from Swedish prog rockers Anekdoten’s 18-year career. Anekdoten’s sound is somewhere between Sigur Ros and the softer side of Opeth. It still has that dark edge of Opeth but not so much of the black metal influence. Chapters encompasses 19 tracks, all with varying dynamics and degrees of engagement. Lighter tracks will feature just a piano and some light strings and percussion while others build to more heavy distorted sounds.

The best parts for me are all the instrumental sections, as Anekdoten have this great ability for orchestration of dynamics and emotion within their songs. But for me Nicklas Barkers vocals just aren’t good enough. Yes they are in key and yes they aren’t bad but I think maybe one of the reasons that Anekdoten haven’t ever got really big is because Barkers vocals are not a touch on his genre counterparts. It’s sad because as I listen I find myself drifting in and out of absorption and I’m so close to being taken in but it just wont happen. Sometimes I find that bands need to know when to leave things out and where not to sing and where not to play even more so than when they should. I’m not saying that Barker shouldn’t sing at all, I just feel that his average ability stands out to me and that he sings over a lot of the material.

All that said the musicianship is fantastic and the production very fluid. So when you do get large instrumental sections in the song, you do find yourself getting sucked in. The tracks are split up between the 2 CD’s with tracks from their last three albums on the first disc and older, more rare and unreleased tracks feature on the second. It’s on the second disc that the direction gets a bit disjointed, with tracks getting a lot heavier and almost metal. I’ll assume this was a period when Anekdoten were trying to find their sound, but it’s fair to say that they sound a lot better when they stay away from their distortion pedals. Overall this album encompasses many great elements and some beautiful slithers of sound but as a whole it feels slightly lacking in that final dashing of fairy dust.

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