Gösta Berlings Saga - Sersophane, 2016, 🇸🇪
The basic quartet on this album is still the same, but compared to the previous one "Glue Works" there are no guest musicians on "Sersophane", except for Olsson, who contributes one or two percussive interludes. A bit simpler than on the predecessor and without chamber rock sections, "Sersophane" is “lighter in sounds”, but no less powerful and complex. Even if the bass growls very menacingly at times, the Zeuhl references have largely disappeared (apart from one or the other passage in "Channeling the Sixth Extinction"). A very dynamic and colorful, symphonic-voluminous, intricate and edgy prog can be heard on "Sersophane", determined by keys and electric guitar. But the very versatile active rhythm section has a lot to say here. The band is rather raw and direct, extremely rousing and sometimes almost wild, at the same time warm and round, almost elegant.
"Deconstruction", bubbles out of the speakers completely electronic and in a repetitively growling manner. In the long "Channeling the Sixth Extinction" (certainly the highlight of the album) it gets tense, growling bass lines, jazzy e-piano patterns, various playful to excessive guitar escapades, the massive drums often connect in the foreground and all sorts of other key and electronic boosts to an extremely entertaining, lively and colorful long number. Einar Baldursson's guitars are distorted and heavy, busy and indefinite in their wandering, while David Lundberg's keyboards, when they are present, appear distant and hazy with a final effect of overlapping and confusion of sounds. The music gradually twists into a kind of spiral in which we have repetitions, continuous flows of sounds. All in all the tune is expanding every idea to the maximum. The title track, is introspective and mysterious, at least in the opening, with a thread of suspense that however preludes more stormy solutions with sounds that begin to roll gradually, increasing their power. Gabriel Tapper's bass proves to be an essential support in this type of sonic scaffolding. The music, however, finds, with the right pace, the logical leitmotif of the melody, creating film scenarios.