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Yep. Great idea. I'd love to have a chance to see them play online. And would definitely pay for the privilege.
If anyone has a subscription to Dagsavisen, could they copy the review to this thread, with a translation, please.
The headline appears to be:
"Review Motorpsycho: "The All Is One" is the crowning achievement"
After listening to The All Is One Carsten Sandkämper at visions.de concludes 'Motorpsycho [are] a contender for the position of "Greatest Rock Band on the Planet"'. He'll get no argument from me :lol:
Translation into English from German by Google:
In the year of madness 2020, Motorpsycho have nothing better to do than complete their "Gullvag Trilogy" with an album that makes "The Tower" look like a little brother and "The Crucible" like their second cousin.
"The All Is One" sums up in an unusually open manner what our time is sick of: "Nobody talks anymore / The public discourse is gone / It's ugly like never before / Binary thinking has won / We're too busy killing ourselves to talk it over ". Bent Saether uses memorable statements that, taken individually, explain our world in a devastating way. They embrace the themes of The Tower , The Crucible and this album, all of which are inspired by the art of the Norwegian painter Hakan Gullvag. Motorpsycho move musicallyin their own universe of prog rock and psychedelia, in which they are still going through new developments. The stomper "The Same Old Rock (One Must Imagine Sisyphus Happy)" breathes Creedence Clearwater Revival and references his own past when Motorpsycho fans let themselves be flattened by Psychonaut for the first time . In the 60s psycho beat of "The Magpie", the trio plus guitarist Reine Fiske plays in euphoria, while "Delusion (The Reign Of Humbug)" lets Saether glide through the scenery in a maximally ethereal and entranced way. All of this is just the overture to the 40-minute suite "NOX", with which the band is jazz in the ensemble with Jagas Lars Horntveth and violinist Ola Kvernberg shakes a true jazz rock monster out of their sleeves. When "Circles Around The Sun Pt. 1" with its epic bolerosque melody tips over into a wild violin solo, Van der Graaf Generator's free spirit flashes for a short time. The directly incidental "Ouroboros" could also have occurred to Frank Zappa with its clever superimposition of rhythm and melody patterns as well as Snah's enraptured solo . "Ascension" is a brief moment of breathing, reminiscent of Yes ' Topographic Oceans , before the 15-minute "Night Of Pan" in repetitive figures and ever new overlays of colorful soundscapes and hypnotic percussion into nirvanaopens. What ends in absolute frenzy at the end of "Circles Around The Sun Pt. 2" is probably Motorpsycho's most engaging piece of music since "The Wheel" or "Un Chien D'Espace". The fact that "NOX" is followed by another section the length of the album, which contains perhaps the most beautiful piece of the album with the nine-minute "Dreams Of Fancy", speaks not only for the sequencing of "The All Is One", but also for Motorpsycho as a benchmark for Contender for the position of "Greatest Rock Band on the Planet".
@Supernaut – Yes it's there in N.O.X. but the effects make it less clear. I like it when it's clear.
@TraktorBass – Hmm, not sure if I should say – I mean, it's quite possible that Supernaut and Rune are thinking about something else entirely. But here's a clue – Greener, Like Always, Year Zero …
Supernaut:
Quote:mmmm maybe I've been wrong about that thing oddly missing. It might only apply to the songs outside of N.O.X. Looking forward to your views on that.I'm pretty sure I know what you're talking about. Conspicuous by its absence, and I, for one, miss it.
Overall an exceptional album, although, like Kid A, I'm not so immediately drawn in to a couple of the tracks on Side D, but that's fine. I'm sure it'll grow, as JERO suggest.
13/15 from Musikreviews.de
Translation into English from German by DeepL:
When MOTORPSYCHO release a new album, music nerds everywhere prick up their ears, because the exceptional band that has been giving impulses to the prog scene since the mid-1980s never stands still, which is why it is impossible to predict what they will come up with next.
Even though the Norwegians have become a bit calmer in the past few years with regard to blatant breaks in style (also due to parallel projects, soundtrack work, etc.), as expected they also surprise in many places on "The All Is One", although the songs must be understood in the context of the "Gullvag Trilogy", which will be concluded with this album.
Just as the title track has a certain vintage prog and Beatles character with regard to the poppy melodic infatuation and Bent Sæther's usual nasally voice, he, multi-instrumentalist Hans Magnus Ryan and the drummer who has been part of the band since 2017, dawdle comfortably for almost nine minutes towards a sunset that seems even more perfect during 'Dreams Of Fancy'.
The two numbers are as compelling as the ironic driving force 'The Same Old Rock' (Roy Harper heard, men?). This one, just like the swinging 'The Magpie', would also lend itself to being a single because the group seems to be focusing on catchy choruses again.
Melodic motifs that one might think to know from the previous albums "The Tower" (2017) and "The Crucible" (2019) are at least not to be found superficially on "The All Is One", but that makes sense insofar as the trilogy was intended as a loose concept.
At the center of the action, however, is the five-part 'N-O-X', one of MOTORPSYCHO's masterpieces par excellence, which takes almost three-quarters of an hour to complete: Symphonic passages, sinister heavy riffs, ominously wide distortion basses and effect-loaded vocals make 'Circles Around The Sun Pt 1' an exciting introduction before 'Ouroboros' offers stoically whipping space rock; Via the interlude 'Ascension', lined with string arrangements, one reaches the dramatic climax of the album – 'Night Of Pan' spirals up to undreamt-of heights that are only reached by very few post-rock acts for over 15 minutes, even though they have more or less made it their business.
Elsewhere, too, the trio turn their noses up at the rest of the scene: The three dreamy segments 'Delusion', 'A Little Light' and 'The Dowser' strengthen the cohesion of the once again hardly countable ideas that the trio is working on, and whether or not they have dealt with the thematic foundation in more detail: The lively finale really does fit the album's hat-trick very well as the final movement.
CONCLUSION: The perfect tightrope walk between sophisticated retro prog and almost mass-market psychedelia – MOTORPSYCHO do not innovate a bit in 2020, but prefer to write exciting songs in partly epic format, which air familiar sound settings with a fresh breeze.
@Supernaut – Thanks!
The first review to appear at Babyblaue gives the album 11/15.
Translation into English from German by DeepL:
In the promo documents the exact details of the cast were once again missing. At least I had the opportunity to learn in advance that Motorpsycho's "The All Is One" would feature a number of guests in addition to the regular trio, among them Reine Fiske (guitars, Mellotron), Lars Horntveth (guitars, clarinets, saxophones, keyboard instruments, usually with Jaga Jazzist) and Ola Kvernberg (violin, also played with Grand General). The recordings were made during two sessions in 2019: the first one was in September in France with Reine Fiske, the second one with Horntveth and Kvernberg took place in November in Norway.
Mr. Kvernberg plays his violin with great commitment and competence in what I consider one of the highlights of the album: the orgiastic-hymnic-ritual "N.O.X. I: Circles Around the Sun Pt.1". For pieces like this, Motorpsycho should be worshipped cultic. Also because they sound uniquely like Motorpsycho and remind us that "The All Is One" is the last part of the so-called Gullvåg trilogy, which began with "The Tower" and "The Crucible". Håkon Gullvåg is the name of the artist who created the artwork for the three albums. For "The All Is One" the artwork was created especially for the band.
"N.O.X. I: Circles Around the Sun Pt.1" is thus the first part of "N-O-X", a five-part, over forty-minute monster track, which should put most fans of Motorpsycho in a state of bliss. Here the influences of modern classical music, stoner rock, psychedelic, kraut rock, jam rock, jazz and prog come together, occasionally crowned by the strikingly dissonant vocal melodies and provided with a shot of avant-garde. Therefore I would like to start from a small masterpiece. Possibly as a worthy continuation of "The Tower". "N.O.X. III: Ascension" is more of a spherical art rock, intentionally anything but intense. The instrumental level of "N.O.X. IV: Night of Pan", on the other hand, would pass for the most part as a partly quite intense electronic-cosmic Krautrock.
The music of the longtrack was allegedly written for ballet, inspired by painting, alchemy and tarot. Accordingly, the artwork of the LP edition is said to be extensive. As somebody on the band's website correctly wrote, "N.O.X." is meant to amaze, the rest of the album is more for relaxation. Like for example the easy going song "The Dowser", arranged for voice, violin and guitar. It sounds to me like written for lazy summer days. Just like the short piece for acoustic guitars, called "A Little Light". Compared to "N.O.X." even the symphonic-progressive stoner rock of "The All Is One", or "Like Chrome" seems light-weight. Probably these pieces would sound a bit different without Led Zeppelin's contributions to music history.
So what does "The All Is One" have to offer? Contrasts. Next to the masterful longtrack called "N.O.X." are the pieces that are probably officially supposed to be the frame for "N.O.X.". This courageous concept leads me to the impression that the longtrack can stand on its own, but the other compositions are in danger of fading in comparison. In other words: another great record by Motorpsycho!
