Fredrik Klingwall – The Resilience
Unless you’re already a fan of Swedish prog-rock outfit Anima Morte then you probably wouldn’t be familiar with the name Fredrik Klingwall. But that’s what I’m here for, to school you.
From the very first track on The Resilience you can already tell what you’re in for, a very lush, romantic score to the gothic horror film in your mind. And for the most part it doesn’t disappoint. It takes the listener down a pretty well beaten track. Don’t mistake me, it’s still that dubious looking path through the dark and scary wood, but it’s a cloudless night and there’s a full moon to light your way. A lot of the time you feel like you know where he’s headed, which is not a bad thing. There are a few surprises along the way where the composer zigs when you think he’s going to zag and this is where the only miscues enter the picture. Occasionally he’ll go off on a strange musical tangent (which possibly owes to his prog-rock roots) which stalls the forward momentum of the song.
He’s best when he sticks to piano and string arrangements. Because The Resilience was composed entirely on synthesizer and editing software its limits are revealed when percussion and horns are added into the mix.
Wisely he sidesteps the whimsy represented by the likes of Midnight Syndicate and Nox Arcana. For a close comparison The Resilience is much like Jeff Grace’s score to The Roost but far less American gothic. It wears its European roots on its sleeve. And probably the biggest praise I can heap on The Resilience is that all things considered I think it played just that much better than Leæther Strip’s foray into classical symphonic horror, Serenade For The Dead. I believe in his own way Fredrik Klingwall avoided, either consciously or by coincidence, the grandiose indulgences which kept Serenade from being a truly gothic work of art instead of merely the musical flight of fancy it is.
It’s available for free download at http://www.lastentertainment.com/music/klingwall-the_resilience.zip. And if you like what you hear be sure and keep an ear out for Anima Morte’s forthcoming album.