Wobbler: Rites at Dawn

Year:  2011

Label:  Termo
Catalog Number:  TERMOCD008
Format:  CD
Website:  http://www.myspace.com/wobblermusic

It could be argued that a band whose sound so closely mirrors that of classic ‘70s prog legends isn’t really as much progressive as it is regressive.  But hell, the third album by Norway’s Wobbler is so damn good, who cares?  Sounding like it was freshly unearthed from a time capsule buried in 1972, Rites at Dawn could well be in the running for best album of that year—had it not been released almost 40 years too late. 

It’s a masterful tribute to the Golden Age of Symphonic Prog, with subtle references to Gentle Giant, King Crimson, Jethro Tull, and Genesis, as well as nods to more obscure acts such as Gryphon and fellow Scandinavians Anekdoten.  The most obvious comparison here, though, is to Yes:  With its effortlessly-shifting time signatures, melodic Rickenbacker bass lines, and multi-part vocal harmonies, Rites at Dawn often comes across as the long-lost missing album between Fragile and Close to the Edge.  Witness 12-minute cosmic odyssey “In Orbit,” where vocalist Andreas Stromman Prestmo channels his inner Jon Anderson in lines like “Soaring threads of life / Bright chariot descending on cities of stone.” 

Lyrically, songs such as “La Bealtaine,” "A Faerie's Play" and “The River” evoke pagan celebrations of the natural world, full of references to woodlands, witches, and faerie folk—perhaps not surprising for a band that formed deep in the Norwegian countryside.  Keyboardist Lars Frederik Frøislie's massive collection of vintage instruments, including various Moogs, Arps, Hammonds, and Mellotrons, as well as more obscure relics like the Chamberlin,  are used to great effect throughout, and further add to the album’s analog authenticity.  In fact, the band are such musical purists that they refuse to use any gear newer than 1975.  Here, as in the album’s immaculate production, Wobbler’s attention to detail is flawless.

It would be easy for an album like this to come off as a sad, second-rate pastiche of classic ‘70s prog, and other bands have gone down that road before with disastrous results.  What’s amazing is that Wobbler have managed to capture not just the style, but the spirit of that era, while creating some incredibly intricate, original songs that could even give some of the Old Masters a run for their money.