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Ars Ultima is a medieval project group
that has been active for the past 7 years with music and dance performances.
From this group the band Au has now been formed, consisting of Anna Sandberg,
Tängman and Tomas Ekenman. Their debut album "Alchímía" is lyricwise
based on old alchemical texts which have been adapted by Anna Sandberg in
English, German and Latin. This is something I appreciate since there are very
few bands today who put much work into their lyrics. The musical roots of Au
lie in traditional folk / medieval music but this album is far from being
traditional. Instruments like flutes and zarb can be heard but the music is
also very electronic with plenty of samples and weird rhythms. The vocals are
taken care of by Anna Sandberg who has a very strong voice that sometimes
unfortunately is a little ear-soaring in my opinion. In short this is the type
of folk music that would definitely fit in on a rave party. It is a very
unusual release and I must admit that I have never heard anything like this
before which is a good thing. A good solid debut album from an interesting
band but it is a tiny bit too psychedelic for my taste I'm afraid.
Recommended for fans of The Third And The Mortal and similar bands who don't
mind a medieval touch. I would have preferred more melody and less ambient
stuff myself but it's definitely not a bad release. Stand-out tracks:
"Väinämöinen".
| Tracklist |
1. A Magical Aenigma 2. |
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168 3. Elements 4. Amabundus 5. Salomon 6. Tabula |
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Smaragdina 7. Atalanta Fugiens 8. Väinämöinen |
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: 69.05
| Buy other Au albums |
