Scott's Spotlight # 58: Änglagård and All Traps on Earth
Welcome to Scott’s Spotlight (#scottsspotlight) issue #58. For more information about this series, please click here:
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Today I’ll be looking at a band with a small discography, yet a long and complicated history. I believe, however, that they, along with possibly Porcupine Tree/ Steven Wilson, sparked a prog rock renaissance in the early 1990s that continues to this day. I’m talking about the Swedish band Änglagård. By the early 90s, prog, as a fresh, dynamic creative force may not have been dead, but it was certainly on life-support. Sure, some of the classic bands of the 60s and 70s were still around in one form or another, and there was a wave of neo-prog bands like Marillion who debuted in the 80s, and Dream Theater were making a splash in the prog metal genre, but newly created, full-on, extended length prog rock the way it had been done in the golden age of prog was hard to come by, then Änglagård happened. Remember, in the early 90s, the internet was barely a thing and there was no social media at all. So for an obscure band from Sweden to make a splash like they did says volumes about how fresh and exciting they were at the time
I found a unique glimpse into the band’s formation on a fan-run website (http://anglagard.net/1993-rr-interview.pdf –note, this website is one of the primary sources of information for this article). There is a scan of a few pieces of paper. On the top, there is a single-page typewritten set of questions from someone named Roland Roque. On the bottom are a handwritten set of responses to said questions on three pieces of paper (apparently answered by Tord Lindman). This is a real time capsule of a document. According to the information contained there, the “interview” was conducted in 1993. It seems that the band was formed in the summer of 1991 when guitarist Tord Lindman and bassist Johan Högberg (later Brand) put up an ad in a “progressive-oriented” record shop in Stockholm looking for musicians interested in playing prog rock. Keyboardist Thomas Johnson and guitarist Jonas Engdegård both replied and the four of them hit it off and began creating music. By September, drummer Mattias Olsson was on board as well. After creating several songs, they played their first gig at a pub in February of 1992. Anna Holmgren joined that spring, following two previous flute players (unnamed in the document). Thus the initial line-up was complete as it appears on the first album. The document also lets us know that the name Änglagård means “meeting point for messengers”. The next few months were a combination of a few gigs and recording demos. They had been working with a very small label almost from the beginning of the band’s existence, but knew they needed a partner label to distribute it. They ended up self-releasing with the help of a label called “Mellotronen”. The notes say that the release party was in January but that must be 1993, even though it was released in late 1992. The album was put in some mail order catalogs and they sold the first 1,000 copies of the CD they had pressed within a couple of weeks. They pressed 3,000 more and the notes say they hoped to sell them by the end of the year, so this interview was very early in the band’s career, indeed.
That album, called “Hybris” which is the Swedish word for “hubris”, meaning excessive pride or overconfidence. And what an album it is. This is the sound that fans of golden age prog were looking for! Hammond organs, Gibson 335 and Fender Stratocaster guitars, Rickenbacker bass, flutes and even (say it with slow reverence) Mellotron! Many “retro-sounding” modern prog bands use Mellotrons now, but in the early 90s it was a rare thing indeed in the days of digital-midi synths and rack-mounted synth modules and guitar effects. These were the tools that our musical heroes used in more fertile musical times. The prog-renaissance had begun! The album initially included 4 tracks, ranging from between 8 and 13 minutes.
1. Jordrök (Earth Smoke) (11:10)
2. Vandringar I Vilsenhet (Wanderings in Confusion) (11:53)
3. Ifrån Klarhet Till Klarhet (From Clarity to Clarity) (8:04)
4. Kung Bore (King Winter) (12:57)
Later re-issues of the album include a 5th bonus track:
Gånglåt Från Knapptibble (Marching Tune from Knapptibble) (7:19)
These songs are absolutely incredible homages to the vintage prog sound. The average score on Prog Archives is 4.34 out of 5 stars out of nearly 2000 ratings. A quick glance over the page of reviews for the album shows that the vast majority of the ratings are 5 stars, but of course there are the occasional 1 star rankings saying its “the most overrated prog album of all time”, to which I reply, “Do you even like prog?”. This album even inspired Roine Stolt to return to prog music (having played with Swedish prog pioneers Kaipa in the 70s) with his album “The Flower King” which led to the prolific, three decade plus career of The Flower Kings. The band would be invited to play at “Progfest 1993” in Los Angeles, CA. According to a very detailed account of the event, http://www.expose.org/archive/exp01/ProgFest1Review.html, There were only approximately 550 attendees in the audience, most of whom had no idea who Änglagård were, but they were completely blown away by their set, which consisted of the entire “Hybris” album, and followed by a cover of Genesis’ “The Musical Box”. The prog-renaissance was underway, led by a band whose oldest member was only 24 years old at the time.
Änglagård’s second album, “Epilog” was released in 1994 with the same line-up as the first, although there were some additional guest musicians on board this time:
- Åsa Eklund / voice
- Martin Olofsson / violin
- Karin Hansson / viola, double bass, treble recorder
- Jan Christoff Norlander / cello
- Johan Brand / vibes & bass (2.1)
It’s interesting that there is a voice credit, as this album is considered to be 100% instrumental. I can tell you however, that I like it every bit as much as the first one. The track listing is as follows:
1. Prolog (2:00)
2. Höstsejd (Rites of Fall) (15:32)
3. Rösten (The Voice) (0:14)
4. Skogsranden (Eaves of the Forest) (10:48)
5. Sista Somrar (The Last Summer) (13:10)
6. Saknadens Fullhet (The Fullness of Longing) (2:00)
A bonus track was, once again, added to later reissues:
1. Rösten (3:38) (Which is a completely different piece from track 3, despite having the same title.)
Änglagård returned for Progfest 1994, this time as a headliner, but as the title of the album implies, they were already on the verge of breaking up. Unfortunately, I am not sure of the circumstances of the break up, as I cannot find any explanations. Luckily, the Progfest 1994 set was recorded and they released the resulting live album as the live album “Buried Alive” in 1996, and that appeared to be the end of the story, until…
In 2002, Änglagård began rehearsing again, albeit without Tord Lindman. After several months of rehearsal, the band performed several shows in 2003, which reportedly included some new material. Notable shows include a headlining hometown show in Stockholm, The German Freakshow-Festival, and that year’s NEARfest. After that series of shows, and re-releasing their first two albums, Änglagård once again seemed to break up to focus on family and personal lives, until…
In 2009, Mattias Olsson confirmed that the band were back together, still minus Tord Lindman, and working on new material on their MySpace page (remember that?!) It would be all the way to July 2012 though before that material was released as their third studio album titled “Viljans Öga”. Like “Epilog” this album is a fully instrumental affair. It only contains 4 tracks, all over 12 minutes in length, with the longest exceeding 16 minutes. The track listing is as follows:
1. Ur vilande (15:47)
2. Sorgmantel (12:06)
3. Snårdom (16:15)
4. Längtans klocka (13:22)
When asked by Prog Magazine following the release of this album, why the band kept breaking up and coming back together, Jonas Engdegård replied:
“The very short story is that this is a very unhappy marriage,” he states, with a wry half-smile. “We basically can’t live with each other, so we keep disbanding and separating after arguments and fights, but we still keep coming together and dream about doing something again.” (https://www.loudersound.com/features/how-anglagard-progs-most-reclusive-band-made-third-album-viljans-oga)
This album seems to have been quite successful, and even made the top 10 album chart in Sweden. They managed to keep up the quality, as once again, there are no weak tracks on the album. A few months later Tord Lindman returned to the band. However, before going on tour, it appears that Mattias Olsson was replaced behind the kit by one time Flower Kings drummer Erik Hammarström. Additionally, Tomas Johnson was replaced on keyboards by Linus Kåse, who also plays soprano sax and provides vocals. As with most things involving Änglagård, things happen slowly. The first live dates to promote the album didn’t happen until February 2013. Of particular note were the shows in Japan in March of 2013, which resulted in a live album titled “Prog På Svenska - Live In Japan” which was released in 2014. Confusingly, Jonas Engdegård seemed to be out of the picture during the 2013-2014 dates, and returned in October of 2014, but I can find no reason for his absence. They performed sporadically during 2014, but frequently in 2015. A 2015 show in Norway was filmed for a DVD release, which dropped in 2017, called “Änglagård Live: Made in Norway”. A few more live performances happened in 2017. Apparently, there was talk from the band about recording a new album around that time, but nothing seems to have come from it.
In 2018, a closely related spin off band, called All Traps on Earth, released an album titled “A Drop of Light”. The line-up includes Änglagård members Johan Brand on various keyboard instruments, guitar and bass, Thomas Johnson on keyboards, and Erik Hammarström on drums and percussion, while the line-up is rounded out by Brand’s daughter Miranda on lead vocals. While Miranda sings beautifully, there are no lyrics, so her voice is utilized more as another instrument in the soundscape. The music is very adventurous, maybe even more than Änglagård’s itself. The pieces, apart from one short interlude, are epic in scale, ranging from 13 minutes to over 18 on the album epic which shares the band’s name.
1. All Traps On Earth (18:17)
2. Magmatic Warning (16:10)
3. Omen (13:00)
4. First Step (2:04)
5. Bortglömda Gårdar (14:01)
While that seems to be the end of Änglagård’s story, they have performed as recently as 2023. According to the band’s Wikipedia page, the current line-up consists of:
Johan Brand (born Högberg) – bass, bass pedals, synthesizer (1991–1994, 2002–2003, 2009–present)
Jonas Engdegård – guitars (1991–1994, 2002–2003, 2009–2012, 2014–present)
Mattias Olsson – drums, percussion (1991–1994, 2002–2003, 2009–2012, 2022-present)
Oskar Forsberg – flutes, saxophones, keyboards (2022-present)
Staffan Lindroth – keyboards (2022-present)
While I have seen no indication that Änglagård has any plans to release a new album, I wouldn’t rule it out, nor would I hold my breath for it either. Änglagård seems to re-appear when we least expect it. Let’s hope they surprise us once again!
As always, see the Links for Listening below.
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Prog On!
Scott
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LINKS FOR LISTENING::
From “Hybris”:
“Jordrök (Earth Smoke)”:
“Ifrån Klarhet Till Klarhet (From Clarity to Clarity)”
From ”Epilog”
“Höstsejd (Rites of Fall)”
“Sista Somrar (The Last Summer)”
From “Viljans Öga”
“Ur vilande”
“Sorgmantel”
From All Traps on Earth- “A Drop of Light”
“All Traps on Earth”
“Omen”
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