Anekdoten : From Within

ANEKDOTEN a€“ BIOGRAPHY 2007-05-11Anekdoten are considered as one of the leading bands in contemporary progressive rock. Their intensive, dark, dynamic and for each subsequent release more original music have also made an appeal among metal-, goth- and post-rock fans all over the world. Anekdotens third studio album a€˜From Withina€™ was released in 1999. On a€˜From Withina€™ the band moved slightly away from the 70's influenced progressive rock of its predecessors and towards a more contemporary sound. Crohinga Well wrote:As we already pointed out several times, Anekdoten is one of Europe's ultimate psych/prog ensembles. Their powerful, tight and varied sound stunned growing numbers of fans all over the globe with their two studio albums 'Vemod' (1995) [sic] and 'Nucleus' (1996) [sic] and last year's '(Official Bootleg) Live in Japan' double CD (see CW15). Their latest studio album, 'From Within', will only prolong their status since this 4-piece from Stockholm managed to produce a third batch of studio recordings that equals and even surpasses their previous work. They perfected their very personal sound that's based on soaring harmonies between vocals and mellotron, massive guitar and fuzz bass outbursts and dark, sombre cello and synth textures. I don't know of another band on this planet that even comes close to this type of refined and, at the same time, intense type of psych prog, which mainly draws its influences from early King Crimson but also displays a few airs of other early 70s monuments like Van Der Graaf Generator or Gracious. Fantastic album, another masterpiece from one of Sweden's very best! Anekdoten was formed in 1991 by Anna Sofi Dahlberg, Nicklas Barker, Peter Nordins and Jan Erik LiljestrA¶m and the line up has remained intact since the beginning. Anekdoten has released 5 studio albums on their own Virta-label and 3 live albums in Japan. The Anekdoten album sales have exceeded 75 000 copies. Their debut album a€˜Vemoda€™ was released in 1993 and was an instant classic. Their reputation as a great live act was established after their performance at Progfest in Los Angeles, which was the most important festival for new prog bands at the time. Since then they have been touring in Europe numerous times, played in the USA three times and Japan twice. Anekdoten has also performed in Canada, Argentina and Brazil. The follow up a€˜Nucleusa€™, released late 1995, was an uncompromised, grungy and distorted affair. Some found it too heavy and diabolic, others found a€˜Nucleusa€™ to be a leap forward for the band. a€˜Nucleusa€™ confirmed the banda€™s status within the prog community and is considered a cult album by many of the fans. In 1998 Nicklas and Peter teamed up with Stefan Dimle and Reine Fiske from another of Sweden's acclaimed progressive bands at the time - Landberk - to record an album under the moniker Morte Macabre. The album a€˜Symphonic Holocausta€™ mainly consisted of soundtrack themes from 70's era horror movies. Stefan is nowadays playing with Paatos and Reine is one of the two founding members of the acclaimed underground sensation Dungen. Their fourth album a€˜Gravitya€™ is perhaps their most accessible. It was released in 2003 and divided the fan base into two camps - those who thought that Anekdoten had sold out and those who found that they were getting better and better. The Japanese ArcA¡ngelo label have released 3 live albums by Anekdoten: - a 4 track mini-CD called a€˜Live EPa€™ (1997)- the 2-CD a€˜Official Bootleg, Live In Japana€™ (1998)-the CD a€˜Waking The Dead, Live In Japan 2005a€™ (also released as a 2 LP by the band)

Full title is: From Within

  Anna Sofi Dahlberg - Piano, Cello, Vocals, Mellotron, Fender Rhodes
  Jan Erik Liljestrom - Bass, Vocals
  Nicklas Berg - Guitar, Mellotron, Wurlitzer
  Simon Nordberg - Piano, Organ (Hammond)

After a long silence, Anekdoten reemerges into the darkness with a record that is both more mature than their debut, Vemod, and yet somewhat less polished than 1995's Nucleus. From Within feels like it was produced on a tighter budget, and the production can have a rehearsal-room feel -- although to be sitting in Anekdoten's rehearsal room is no small privilege. The opening title track is a band tour de force of crunching bass, swooping Mellotron, and clattering snare drums; one of the real high points of the album comes with the slowly building instrumental 'The Sun Absolute,' built around a single pulsing bass guitar note, ghostly Mellotron flutes, and sonar ping keyboards. But this fine album still falls a little short of its predecessor, for although Anna Sofi Dahlberg is still listed in the credits, her cello work is strangely absent from the mix. Its departure only serves to emphasize its importance in the band's sound in previous albums. ~ Paul Collins, All Music Guide