Review Minora - Imago 2011

Sometimes you can actually describe a band in just one word, Minora is one of these bands. Atmospherical is the word, in case you were wondering, that is in one word the best description of Minora’s music. There is also a three word description that equates to a little name dropping, this three word description is Dead Soul Tribe. It is musically heavy/progressive metal with tons of atmosphere all the way through and that is really the first thing you come to focus on when you listen to this band: the atmosphere in the songs. This is the main focal point for any listener really. But if we dig a bit deeper we start to find guitar driven metal that lies as the foundation for everything. The production also seems focused on this atmospherical thing which is very much driven by the vocal style of Tommie Zetterlund who reminds slightly of Devon Graves of Dead Soul Tribe in the way he performs the vocal duties of this album, I would not say that their voices are very similar though. Clean and atmospherical, almost with a sense of flying or being suspended in the air is probably the best description of how this album sound.

Imago is the debut of this band from Gothenburg in Sweden. It has ten tracks and is about 40 minutes long which of course is the ideal length of an album, within the vinyl record’s length is where I always think one should try to keep the length of a record. Another thing that strikes me with this album is how the band also seem to work to make the visible, which of course means the booklet and cover, suit the music. This is interesting to see how well the album cover reflects what we can expect to hear on the album.

Mountain, it is something we have in excess here where I live, it is also the opening track of Imago. An opening track that in a good way reflects what we are about to be presented with, or what journey we will undertake, depending on how you look at thing and wether or not you have as vivid imagination as this writer. I can also say that even if this opening track in a good way reflects on what we are about to hear and is a decent track, it is not one of the better on this album. It is a decent opener this track, nothing more. The next track called November is much more interesting, it is more like it with more changed in tempo, it is a better song and feel more like it is what Minora was looking to do when they started working with the album (of this I of course have no idea as it is only guesswork) and following this November which belongs to the better half of songs on the album, comes Disconnected which feels more like a continuation of November rather than a new song. It is a good song nonetheless, with the same feel and great atmosphere as November.

Between the Window Glasses is a rather strange title and it is not one of the more fabulous tracks on this album either, feels more like a wait for the next interesting track, like something to fill up the album more than something else. The next track though, the one called A New Dawn is one of the real gems of this album, powerful, atmospheric, interesting and a really good song that for me stand out as probably the top song of the album. The latter might however also be said for the following track which is called My Goodbye and has a great atmosphere that harmonise really well with the structure of the song, it is a really good song just as the one before and it is not getting worse by the fact that it is here the album title plays out in a great way. So either A New Dawn or My Goodbye are the best songs in case you are interested.

Descending, Jóga, The 4th Drive and Silence are then rounding off the album and by rounding off I mean just that. These tracks feels just like the way to fade away to the end, it is not any bad songs, rather the opposite but they still feel like they sort of take you back to the beginning more or less.

Guess this review got a bit long due to me talking about all the songs which I usually don’t do but nonetheless the overall impression is a very positive one. This album manage to combine building songs with presenting an atmosphere to the listener, which in itself seems to be a difficult thing. What is most impressive is that they manage balance the songs with the atmosphere so well, again this reminds me a whole lot of Dead Soul Tribe and especially the self titled debut album which in many parts were quite similar to this album. It is also very impressive to think that it is a debut album as there is not easy to hear something that reminds you of that, the music sounds very mature and as it is from an experienced band.

I also enjoy the fact that they have worked hard on all aspects because the cover is an important part of the whole experience with an album and the cover and booklet for Imago really covey all that you hear in the music, if anyone anywhere would ask how the band sound, you could just tell them to look at the cover and they would know, more or less it is after all a bit up to the imagination of the beholder as well. The fact that they use textures from the Nasa image library is also interesting and the incorporation of these no terrestrial textures to the booklet makes for a good looking booklet and also a good impression towards me who is listening.

This album was really something of a surprise for me, I was expecting something decent or in that category but good something really good instead which of course is very positive. I think that Imago is maybe a good indicator towards what this band is capable of as I am sure it is not the absolute maximum of their capacity and that there is a lot more to come in the future, the name Minora might become quite known. Then again, I have been known to be wrong in these cases, most of the time wrong as a matter of fact.

Nonetheless, Imago by Minora is definitely amongst the top albums of the year, a bit left to be really the best album of the year so far but they are surprise of the year so far and now only time will tell wether this band will have this great future this album seem to indicate or if they will just fade away now. Lets all hope for the first scenario.

I recommend all of you to give this album a chance, it is a great album which honestly should have a place in most of ours record collections, it is already in mine, now it is your turn to get it.

HHHHHHH

Minora Imago

Minora
Imago