To the second of this week’s Norwegian reviews, and The Windmill releasing their fourth album, Mindscapes. They are well regarded in our little world, having supported Fish on tour, and played both Night of the Prog and Summers End festivals.

The band are Arnfinn Isaksen on bass guitar; Stig André Clason the lead axeman who also appears on the second Norwegian review of the week in Infringement; Erik Borgen the lead vocalist and also on guitars; Jean Robert Viita on keyboards and backing vocals; Morten L. Clason superb on flutes and sax, also contributing backing vocals; last, but not least, Nils Harsem is the drummer. There is also a host of guest musicians.

There are four tracks to work our way through, one of which (I Still Care), I played on my regular show with Progzilla Radio this Saturday just gone – pop along to https://progzilla.com/lazland-on-progzilla-radio-episode-4/ to hear this and all other radio material of mine.

Fear starts us off, over 22 minutes of music, so an “uber-epic”. It is very strong Scandinavian symphonic rock music, the soundscapes curated and presented with loving care and strong playing in the manner of classic bands of yore, with Clason especially providing for a classy Tull flavour on his flute, the narrative talking of a dream of freedom within a conversational context, the subject wanting to be like the object of his admiration, running free. Viita when he appears has a very expressive voice, and the length does not deter the listener at all, flowing beautifully (the sensitive passage twelve minutes in is quite lovely, developing into a musical narrative worthy of comparison with Camel at their height), a collective which sounds deeply comfortable with each other, and this wonderful track is certainly in the frame for this website’s “Tales from Topographic Ocean” award in 2024, this the prize given to those lengthy tomes which put one in mind of the tome to end all tomes.

Calton Hill follows, this being the hill in central Edinburgh and home to many famous monuments. Just under five minutes long, this is by necessity of length a far punchier affair than the epic which preceded it, a very good commercial pop/prog track embedded below discussing the knowledge of someone with a deep understanding of the local history. The sax provides a nice sense of mystery before the guitar leads the final charge.

I Still Care is also embedded below. This is a very strong piece of music which I was very happy to play on my show (the link to the podcast is on the homepage of this website), some wonderful piano playing, a sensitive vocal performance, a song about love and laying out the heart to she who spurned him, with some deep emotional textures in the words and playing, especially the flute, but the collective nicely rocking out with feeling when required leading to a grandiose finish. I really like this track.

We close with Nothing In Return, another nice mix of Tull and heavier, classic rock, reminding me a wee bit of classic Purple, so an interesting mix, with a swirling flute and some classy riffs.

Mindscapes is a good album, and I am happy to recommend that you take yourselves off to their Bandcamp page by clicking on the logo underneath the album cover at the top of this page.