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"Shaman Elephant belongs to the school of progressive rock from the Nordic countries where the energy and psychedelism of yesteryear are mixed."
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4/5
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Young Norwegian quartet, Shaman Elephant, offers a first album "Crystals" after an EP "More" released in 2015. The band draws from various very 70's styles such as convoluted rock, Jimi Hendrix's creative inspiration, improvised jazz fusion, the psychedelism of the elders and the more recent Scandinavian progressive.
Presented in this way, the story promises to be complicated and even complex for the listener. However, he must reassure himself because the young combo brings in each track a more accessible part allowing him to capture the attention that will be necessary to grasp all the subtleties of the album. It is a journey through time that is thus proposed in this album anchored in a blessed era where everything was possible in inventiveness and experimentation.
From the very beginning, the band offers an eponymous Deep Purple-scented title, notably in the vocal of Eirik Sejersted Vognstolen and the way of constructing the title. It's like coming back to the veterans' "In Rock" with its heady and devilishly heady riffs. Like a recent The Flower Kings ('Desolation Rose'), 'Shaman In The Wood' feels like a live recording with psychedelic elements in the keyboards and hypnotic guitars. The 4 minutes of 'IAB' are a perfect blend of Deep Purple with Blackmore-like guitar playing and Ian Gillian-like screaming vocals. Curiously, 'Tusco' marks a turning point in the continuity of the album with a very pleasant and well constructed jazzy atmosphere that will be combined with the power of the previous tracks in 'The Jazz'. Synthesising everything that has been mentioned above with influences as vast as The Doors, Led Zeppelin, 'Stoned Conceptions' closes this breathtaking album.
But all this wouldn't be as effective without this good production, combining period sound and modern mixing. Shaman Elephant could be criticized for lacking a bit of personality and for respecting his elders a bit too much. The intonations in particular are already heard and sometimes too symptomatic in the way of interpreting the vocal lines. The same goes for the guitar and keyboards.
Anyway, in spite of still too marked influences linked to the youth of the combo and to the approached genre, "Crystals" will make the listener travel in a temporal dimension where energy, creativity and experiences had no limit. - Official website
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TRACK LISTING:
01. Crystals
02. Shaman In The Woods
03. I.a.b.
04. Tusco
05. The Jazz
06. Stoned Conceptions
LINEUP:
Eirik Sejersted Vognstolen: Chant / Guitares
Jard Hole: Batterie
Jonas Saersten: Claviers
Ole-andreas Saebo Jensen: Basse
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