Don’t you sometimes wish that new albums could still be released that sounds like they used to in your formative years? Personally, I miss is the classic sounding retro-progressive concept albums of the 1970s. You know, the ones that infused their music with sci-fi inspired music and lyrics, dashes of hard rock and psychedelia, sweeping soundscapes, with a touch of flamboyance, and made with the old production values.
But wait! In a galaxy far, far away, on the planet of Sweden, some resistance fighters referred to as Hällas are still living in the 1970s even now in the 2020s, keeping the fight alive!
It was a revelation to discover Hällas a few years ago. They are making music that emulates the 1970s in such grand retro style that I was convinced I had come across an older band when I first heard them.
Pictures gave the same impression. In the first image I saw of vocalist/bassist Tommy Alexandersson playing live, he was wearing a cape, a silver suit, and donning green make-up around the eyes. Classic. My hat is off!
Conundrum is their third release, with a self-titled EP first arriving in 2015 and their first full-length album Excerpts From A Future Past in 2017. Like the two first releases, Conundrum is a concept album – of course – but also the third and final part of their ongoing story about the old Knight Templar Hällas.
The initial concept of the story is that Hällas has started doubting his faith. On the EP we learn about his background and see him starting to search for the meaning of life. On the Excerpts album, which is more specifically set in the middle ages of an alternate universe, Hällas meets a soothsayer who possesses powers of the universe, which takes his search and adventures to new levels. He also meets the robot/metal man Star Rider who becomes somewhat of a companion.
On Conundrum, the story has moved into the cosmos as we move beyond the planet in search of ultimate truths. It sounds grand, but then again, that’s what concepts used to do. Larger than life, with the feeling – just the feeling – that if you studied the work closely enough, you would be able to glean some deeper insight. Usually there was nothing to be found, but that didn’t matter. It felt like it was there, hidden somewhere. Conundrum gives that same feeling.
Like so many bands this year, their entire album campaign was pretty much trashed by the Covid situation, but they were particularly unlucky with the timing. The album was supposed to come out in January, but was moved out a month to better coincide with their touring plans, due to start in March. Their nearly 20 dates across Europe was reduced to one lone gig, as the tour started exactly at the point when countries started shutting down. They were hardly alone in this, but they were the first band on my radar that were hit by this so immediately and intensely. Their first week of tour dates was when everything closed down. Dates were initially rescheduled for late November and December 2020, but will likely keep being pushed forward for a while longer.
Still, the album came out, and it has pretty much done the touring for them so far. And it is an amazing album to send out into the world.
The band has grown, developing their sound further and adding some significant chops to everything from the writing to arranging and performing, but they definitely still sound like themselves.
Like all good concept albums, Conundrum starts with an intro, taking the form of the instrumental Ascension. It is a relatively quiet and ambient keyboard melody. Rather than being a piece in its own right it is more designed to set up the next track (and the proper first song of the album). And that is the only way to view this, really – as the initial part of the first full song.
Beyond Night And Day is thus the first proper song on the album, and it marks its transition from the intro with a retro-style drum fill. We are immediately brought back to the progressive space operas of the 1970s. Wishbone Ash and (especially) Hawkwind are instant references, with the guitar riffs sounding like Dave Brock himself is playing them.
The song is an impressive instrumental showcase with twin guitars twirling, and parts with incredible organ lines draping themselves into the song like a warm blanket. The song builds up quite some intensity towards the end, with Kasper Eriksson providing an especially incredible drum track propelling the rest of the guys onward.
The story continues where it ended on the last album, where Hällas got stuck in some sort of limbo in the underworld. This time he wakes up and gets out of there.
I’m awake yet broken
In the dark forsaken
Am I alive?
Reaching for the light
Calleth thee remember
Thou shall rise commended
In fragile hands of fate
Beyond night and day
Strider is simply a majestic track, and an immediate favourite. The best on the album? Could be. It is a stunning, slower-paced song with a lovely atmosphere. The twin guitars of Marcus Peterson and Alexander Moraitis are especially lovely as well. The song has touches of classic Blue Öyster Cult epics such as Veteran of the Thousand Wars – brooding, slow-building, and epic in scope. Something is afoot, but what?
“A sort of lunar phenomenon is occuring,” explains Alexandersson. “A cosmic phenomenon where the moon travels closer to earth than ever before. It falls out of orbit, and because of this both water and earth will rise. Moonlight shines all the way down to the underworld, which wakes up our hero so that he can resurface on the earth.”
The song sees the character Hällas reflecting on the journey ahead, as he leaves the underworld to go out searching for the Soothsayer. He is also looking for Star Rider to help him on his the final journey.
We are back with the eyes of an old man
We are force and great wisdom intertwined
We are here where the sun won’t reach us
In the dark where the souls carry on
Tommy Alexanderson has a very down-to-earth and distinct voice that suits the material well. It harkens back to a time when vocals were more about pinning moods rather than soaring with the eagles or vibrating mountains asunder. It is great to hear him progress from album to album, and he has never sounded better. On this track, he soars. He reveals a larger range on this album than before, which was a nice surprise.
“I feel more comfortable singing harder, more aggressive stuff,” he says himself. “And on this album there are some parts that are like that. Tougher and more aggressive parts. I think that way of singing suits me really well. But there are a lot of soft tracks on this album as well. That can also be nice sometimes. It’s like showing a different side of yourself. I can sing that way when I feel like it.”
The next track is Tear of a Traitor, which was the first taste of the coming album when it was released as a music video in November 2019. Opening with a lovely old-style fanfare full of panache and chutzpah, the song starts in grand style and keeps it up throughout.
Those who like a bit of guitar interplay in their classic progressive rock will find this song a sheer delight. Twin guitar lines, nice riffage, solos (singular and dual), played in a lovely, galloping tempo. The drum work is also quite exquisite with lots of detail, using every little finesse and no doubt hitting every little thing on his kit in the process. Alexandersson also delivers a great vocal again, hitting the highest note on the album towards the end of the song.
The keyboard sound on this track is especially beefy. In the making-of documentary we can see the band discuss which keyboard sound to use, going through a few options before eventually agreeing to go for “the Uriah Heep sound.”
The next track Carry On sees the band dip into the 1980s a bit, sounding more than passingly like their fellow countrymen in The Night Flight Orchestra. The synths are turned up, the pacing is set to ‘aerobics’ and the band adds the biggest sing along chorus to their arsenal since their hit Star Rider from their first album.
The celestial touches and twin guitars are still there, along with harmony keyboards. The track would be a very suitable space chase track if their story had called for it. It is easy to imagine images of flying star fields swooshing by set to this music.
Meteors blazed across the atmosphere
Sister in the sky was watching over him
In the chasm left to die
Like the tide he suddenly rose
Moon knight, moon knight
Carry on, carry on
Carry on
The three final tracks are the longest, all clocking in at over seven minutes each. This is where Hällas really shine.
Labyrinth of Distant Echoes starts with Alexanderson singing over a low-key choir backing. It is a very suitable intro to this epic of epics, which kicks into a high-energy prog rocker. Beautifully layered and structured, consisting of several passages, this is another stand-out track on an album with several great candidates.
The extended twin guitar section in the second half of the song is especially stunning. The fanfare with which the song ends is very befitting and bring back thoughts of the proggier moments of several pomp rock bands (e.g. Styx) of the 1970s.
As you can imagine, a song with so much going on musically has a story to match. This is the point when Hällas the templar knight learns that the crystal containing the Soothsayer is hidden inside a maze. (If you struggle to follow the story based on my fragments in this review – don’t worry. It’s not easier even with the booklet in hand!) The lyrics are meant to be open to interpretations, and probably work best when used as a springboard for your own imagination with the loose references as a guide. That works well, too – the music and lyrics certainly manages to fuel the imagination.
The previous song transitions into Blinded by the Emerald Mist which starts very similarly to Soliloquy by Rush (one of the songs that make up the longer 2112 track). After that intriguing intro, it leads into a frantic guitar extravaganza. Like the previous song. this is a very progressive track which goes through a series of moods and sections, taking the listener on a journey. In many ways it feels like a continuation of the previous track, where they both become parts of a longer piece – similarly to how the aforementioned 2112 suite is made up of several tracks.
The build-up in the latter half of the song is intense, reminding me of how Deep Purple built up their classic Child In Time – even having the full stop and quiet restart which slowly builds up again.
It is clear that both the music and the lyrics are fully invested in the storytelling at this point, and that the story is approaching a climax.
I am left in this world alone
Blinded by the emerald mist, will I be lost?
I’m scared but I need to be strong
The album – and thus, the story – ends with Fading Hero, which is a huge finale at nearly nine minutes. Initially sounding like a distant cousin of Queen’s Flash Gordon theme with a touch of the aforementioned The Night Flight Orchestra yet again, the song grows and morphs almost continually. At one point, the bass is bringing the song into a funky groove before it all morphs into something else again into the next section.
This is the end of the journey. According to Alexandersson: “The song is meant to symbolise the labyrinth our hero is traversing as he is on the threshold of the answer. Filled with traps and trials, he struggles to find the crystal which contains the answer.”
Notably, the song features a modulated/electronic voice, representing the robot voice of Star Rider. This is especially prominent during the song’s last few instrumental minutes, where Star Rider tells the knight Hällas about the drastic things he needs to do to achieve final victory. What does it say, and where does this leave the old knight templar and the overall story in the end? Now, now. Spoilers…
This album managed to make me very emotional the first time I heard it. Frankly speaking, I thought nobody made albums like this any longer. This is an incredible throwback to a time when bands (and record labels) had different philosophies about how albums should be written and recorded. The sounds that the band utilise here have all but become extinct. From keyboard to the way the guitars sound – and interplay with each other – to the style of singing… it’s incredible that this band exists in the 2020s and is able to bring back vintage sounds and styles like this. The album is a triumph, and designed for people who like myself miss something in the music of today that was more common some 40-50 years ago.
Musically, the band was always confident in their ability to conjure up vintage-sounding music that is relevant today. They have also pulled off a story that has been told across three releases and six years. What comes next? They could easily conjure up new sagas, but at the same time they have created a universe with a background of its own, consisting of a timeline, locations and several characters. If they feel like it, this is a setting they can keep exploring even with totally new stories. Perhaps this is what the band is planning – and perhaps not. I am curious to find out and can’t wait to hear what Hällas does next.
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