Agusa - Prima Materia (2023) [Official Digital Download 24/96]

Our beloved progressive/psychedelic/folklore Rock band Agusa – formed in Malmö (Sweden) in 2013 – is back (after 2021’s “En Annan Varld” with the album “Prima Materia”, their 8th release so far! “Prima Materia” is an exciting new album that finds the refreshed/renewed members of Agusa infiltrating even deeper and further into that lone 70s Progressive Rock path.

“Prima Materia” consists of just 4 tracks, 2 on each side of the mostly instrumental LP album. The opener “Lust Och Fägring (Sommarvisan)” starts with a sweet serene classic acoustic guitar sound and while the electric guitar slowly makes its appearance the band starts to “groove” in a lovely fantastic folkie style, the flute leads the way, the music becomes more and more Progressive Rock oriented, giving to the keys some space to shine a bit, you can tell that the band is in excellent shape, the repeated changes of the mood or the rhythm are adding something magical in the atmosphere, leaving all Folk-related stuff behind and introducing a New Progressive Era, yes, PROG is the main vehicle over here and Agusa seem capable enough to lead it from the past to the future! As the track evolves over time an intense 70s Prog “feel” is created affecting the whole track, of course, at some point, there’s room for the band to flirt with Psych while “dangerously” the band blinks an eye to Kraut, of course (again) early 70s Floyd are present… So, a lot of interesting things happening during the 14:30 minute, and the news over here is that Agusa is charting a new course to their sound… Intriguing… A flute-based dreamy sound introduces the next track “Under Bar Himmel”, under a slow kind of acoustic motive, the song acts like a folkie-rock ballad, definitely reminding Agusa’s early days (not that their sound has changed that much), of course, the band for once more performs their favorite thing inside a song which is nothing else than a fascinating rapid change of the rhythm, of the mood, the scenery has become by now more progressive in a euphoric pleasant way, the track has totally been transformed into a New Era old-school Progressive Rock anthem! Although the band manages to end the track in that specific folkie way that had in the beginning, splendid! Side ‘B’ starts with “Ur Askan”, under a superb Prog-Folk motive with a groovy “dubby” kind of funky rhythm, little Middle Eastern flirting, carefully leans more to Prog than Folk, while the keys give a cool funk–delic feel though the electric guitars re keeping the track to the steady powerful PROG ground (no fly high here, hehe), but towards the end the track enters a PSYCH world, dark with shimmering slow guitars and female vocals, becoming a hard-prog balladesque tune just for a while, but managing to end in Agusa’s own Prog way… Eventually, the album comes to an end with “Så Ock På Jorden”, a balladesque soft tune with a quiet folkie environment and female wordless vocals, suddenly the track becomes more rhythmic, more groovy, and more PROG-oriented, with keys and flute magically creating the “trademark” AGUSA sound, so glorious and quite characteristic, of course, the guitar is there to add a funky attitude to that brilliant ending of the album… “Prima Materia” is a fine album, full of excitement and old progressive rock sounds embodied with the necessary doses of Folk and PSYCH, is one of the best albums of 2023 for sure, and all I wish is to be able to catch them “live” in order to experience their magical stage performance in first hand because one time is never enough… TimeLord Michalis

Tracklist:
01. Lust och fägring (Sommarvisan)
02. Under bar himmel
03. Ur askan
04. Så ock på Jorden


Thanks to the Original customer!