Hällas – Panorama (Äventyr Records) – From Jönköping, Sweden comes something rather tasty. Now we do like idea of an album that opens with a prog as flip twenty one minute song that gallops through a number of fields full of crops of hard rock, classic Genesis-flavoured runs, preposterous bits of old-school sky-touching proper keyboards, bits that feel very much like the pomp of those similarly named Scottish 80s prog heroes Pallas, bits that are as thick as Jethro Tull’s brick and that is what Norway’s Hällas have for us here.

Oh yes! Twenty-one glorious minutes of utter giant-hogweed-drenched prog rock to open their over-the-top new album, this is what we want! Cool as flip and a glorious declaration of intent. Most bands, well the few who would have the guts to write such a piece as Above the Continuum in the first place, would surely stick it at the end of the album, not Hällas though, they’re straight in with it, opening track, no messing, ‘ave it! Prog on that!    

The only problem with opening with an epic is following it. Hällas don’t even try, instead, a clever bit of almost cheesy pop rock that has the infectious face of an angel that almost turns to disco as it flies with the devil…. 

Elsewhere the blend is very much of an adventurous prog/pomp fused hard rock nature, that and atmospheric demands that you seize the lightening that Magnum would have been proud of while Bestiaus has a touch of that rich Strawbs drama about. At the Summit is more of that galloping prog that has places to go in a rather Knife-like hurry, brilliant! Actually the whole album is rather brilliant in an almost defiantly proper over the top of the mountain properly Prog way, nor back to the twenty-one minutes and twenty-nine glorious seconds of Above the Continuum for another ride, actually that one starts off with a disco feel as well, a real musical box of treats, brilliant. Properly so. (sw)  

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Oh, have some more…