Monday, May 12, 2008

Album of Last Friday

The Hemulic Voluntary Band, by Ritual (2007): I know you're thinking - "what the hell's a 'hemulic voluntary band?'" A good question, one that I don't know the answer to myself. It has to do with the work of Finnish author Tove Jansson. All but one of the songs on the album (Ritual are Swedish, FWIW), save one, are based on characters and stories from Jansson's work, with the closing epic "A Dangerous Journey" based on a short story of the same name. Regardless, this is a fabulous album, musically. Ritual relies more heavily on folk influences and instruments than you're general modern prog band. On this album, in particular, it gives the whole thing an organic woodsy feeling that fits the lyrics very well.

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