Ghost Story is the seventh album released by Swedish combo Salva and is available on White Knight Records (home of artists such as Tiger Moth Tales, Alan Reed, and Colin Mold).

I think that at the outset it is fair to state that this album is not breaking any new or experimental ground in music. What we have here is a musically competent bombastic prog rock album with some very enjoyable moments and others that perhaps outstay their welcome a wee bit.

The album opens very impressively at the start of Awakening, the longest piece here at just over 13 minutes. A blast of noise greets us before we move into the main section of the song, which is expansive and rich, particularly the vocals. The first five minutes are a joy to listen to before we then go into what I describe as the “by numbers” phase of the track, and it is not the only such instance here. There is nothing wrong with it per se, but I am not sure where a thumping Europe style rocker fits into the interesting passage we had to start with. As regular readers of my reviews know, I never object to commercial music, pop music, AOR, call it what you will, but I most certainly do prefer it to be of interest. It is not bad, far from it. It just isn’t particularly interesting. The ending returns to the opening theme and is sensitive, the sound of which is reminiscent of Asia in their extended moments. Within this 13 minutes, there are some five to six very good minutes.

And therein lies one of the major issues I have with some bands. I know it is a strange thing for a prog rock fan and reviewer to state (then again, those who know me will confirm the strangeness) but a song does not have to be a 10-minute plus epic to be effective. Much good music can, and is, made in a far tighter timeframe. Quality, not quantity.

Discovery is a pomp prog/pop track with standard noodling synths, but some very good guitar bursts by Stefan Gavik, for me the standout musician on the album. This is a track I have grown to rather like over the past couple of weeks listening, but, again, it could have been made far more enjoyable had the final couple of minutes standard keyboards been cut.

A couple of minutes into Gig, a standard rocker morphs into something far more interesting. Some impressive lower key vocals lead a very tight musical section which is distinctly funky in parts, in particular the bass and guitar chords. This particular passage moves into more familiar keyboard-led rock music, but I think this is a stronger piece simply because it is of interest. The closing guitar solo is particularly evocative, and once again proves the main overriding feature of this review in that there is four minutes of class in this seven minute track.

Ghost is almost 13 minutes in length, and the opening passage is sumptuous with piano and keyboards before launching into a pleasant synth-led passage. At just short of three minutes, that all changes into something that bears very little resemblance to this. Almost punk-like vocals precede a section which is a little bit of a mess and more than a little annoying, and even after about half a dozen listens to the album, this is the point where the stop button is somewhat tempting. When we have the lyrical passage about an angel appearing and talking to the protagonist, you think of something that Jon Anderson would produce with soaring, inspirational soundscapes. What you get instead is something more akin to a Swedish sea shanty.

Everysong is far better and a clear highlight to me of 2022 thus far. This is a strong ballad in which the band as a whole play with a purpose and the song plays seamlessly, with feeling, with intelligence, and genuinely moves you in parts. The video is embedded below – enjoy.

Score is the final track and is another hefty 11 minute long piece. The opening is expansive and delightful. The vocal passage which follows is, to these ears, over-sampled before we again listen to what my wife likes to refer to as “typical progressive rock synthesisers”. “They all sound the same!”. Well, they don’t, but her point is well taken. This piece is unadventurous and rather forgettable until a moving passage of emotional vocals and lyrics eight minutes in. The vocal harmonies and riffs provide for a very strong conclusion.

This review probably sounds overly negative, and, at the end of the day, it is all well and good someone with all the musical ability of Droopy to criticise, but that is what reviewers do, I am afraid. The shame about this album is that there is a damned good band and work just waiting to burst out and there is enough here for me to want to explore earlier works.