After 'From Silence to Somewhere' from 2017, Norwegians from 'Wobbler' release new album 'Dwellers of the Deep'. As in their previous opus, we find a progressive and symphonic rock straight from the 70s with for the amateurs of this period, vintage keyboards in abundance and if I had made a parallel with 'Emerson Lake & Palmer' in my last review, in this new opus, it reminds me more of the English of <'Renaissance'. No surprise then, we find the long developments with only 4 compositions, of which the 2 shorter ones of 8 and 4 minutes respectively are framed by the two major titles of the album of 14 and 19 minutes for 45 minutes in total.
It is therefore with the 14 minutes of 'By The Banks' that the album begins in a tangle of sections alternating intensities and tempos and requiring that we linger there to appreciate to its true value all the arrangements, whether vocal (they are always magnificent) or instrumentals and, already, the influences of 'Renaissance' are felt. 'Five Rooms' continues with an introduction in a religious atmosphere and which takes off after a little over a minute to embark us in a new sound maze with this time a parallel with 'Yes', then the short 'Naiad Dreams' brings a welcome acoustic break before the masterpiece 'Merry Macabre' of the album which starts in a very calm atmosphere and which makes us scroll through all that we could find best in the progressive of the 70s with admirable vocal passages, a singing often quite close to 'Jon Anderson' which makes us draw a parallel with 'Yes' and instrumental passages that make one think of the first albums (for me the best) of 'Renaissance'.
In summary, the Norwegians of 'Wobbler' continue to assume for our greatest pleasure their style modeled on a progressive of the 70s and this new opus 'Dwellers of the Deep' is recommended to a public adept of vintage sounds of progressive music and who likes to get lost in long developments that we discover little by little by multiplying the listenings... | |
