Review by Jem Jedrzejewski
Norwegian band,
Panzerpappa, came into existence in
1996 as a solo alter ego for drummer Tront
Gjellum’s solo project. Tront
felt that his name would not be the most memorable so came up with the name
Panzerpappa, which although an
invented word, could be taken to mean ‘armoured daddy’ (literally translating
the German ‘panzer’ and Norwegian ‘pappa’). Things moved on in 1999 when
Panzerpappa became a fully-fledged
band and, after a couple of personnel changes, has maintained the same line up
since early 2002. Fans of Canterbury legend
Richard Sinclair may recognise the name of
Tront Gjellum as
Tront, along with
Jarle G.
Storløkken
(guitars) and
Anders K. Krabberød
(bass, Chapman Stick), was in
Richard’s backing band in 2002 when he
performed in Norway I believe. In fact, that occasion led
Tront to invite
Jarle and
Anders to join
Panzerpappa. Farlig Vandring (Hazardous
Hiking) is the third release by Panzerpappa.
The music follows the RIO style along the lines of Henry Cow in places but with a greater sense of direction. Melodies are nearly always there, which isn’t always the case for RIO and time changes and tempo cross between jazz, fusion and prog. Saxophones (Steinar Borve) and never far away yet prog style keyboards also feature. As you might expect, percussion plays a big role alongside bass and not just drums; Trond plays a variety of instruments including Glockenspiel. The variety of styles is perhaps best reflected in the third track on this six-track album. Utrygge Trofler (Troubling Truffles) encompasses prog rock alongside jazz and RIO with delightful melodies and those little touches that make for a perfect recipe. Farlig Vandring is complex but, unlike a lot of RIO, is very accessible. Progressive jazz and prog fans, particularly those into the Hatfields, Gryphon, Gong, Zappa and perhaps Gentle Giant should definitely check this one out.
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