Sinkadus
Cirkus

"Tarots and the North" (twelve writings each paired with a Major Arcana by Luis Royo)

"IV. Justice"

"...steep is the path of Dike, dragged by gift-devouring men wherever they render justice with crooked judgments..."

A verse of such incisiveness, taken from the "Erga" of Hesiod, exemplarily sums up the concept, characteristics, as well as the practical limits of a justice (Dike, indeed) that has always been a victim, in music as in every other field of the knowable, of arbitrary changes and convenient reinterpretations, born on one hand from the claim of inscribing the genuine expressions of human interiority into numerical tables of objective value, and on the other hand from the opposite exacerbation of personal preferences to which no one can say they are completely immune. Among the possible candidates for delving into such a thorny theme in progressive art, the Scandinavian scene offers itself as an excellent analysis laboratory, and the Sinkadus particularly present as an interesting example to observe, thanks to ambiguous and intriguing properties that project without hesitation into the deceitful scenarios of the late Swedish revival.

To tell the truth, the entire Nordic experience is experiencing a harsh downsizing, due to a hypercritical vision that tries to force the eclecticism of Änglagård and Anekdoten into a continuum with the patriarchs of classical experimentation, completely misunderstanding the role of figures that are incomparable both to inventors of the caliber of Christian Vander or Frank Zappa, and to founders of schools of thought such as His Majesty Robert Fripp or Peter Hammill, since characters like Tord Lindman and Nicklas Berg find their indisputable historical importance rooted in having extracted new vital sap from realities considered long dead, reformulating in a Gothic key the legends narrated by the aedi of symphonic rock or pushing to the extreme the red nightmares of the Corte Cremisi, both reaching incredible heights of personality on the second attempt.

Here, however, a boundary line must be drawn because the resumption of fruitful explorations, inaugurated by "Hybris" and "Vemod", then happily expanded by numerous episodes, among which "Ignis Fatuus" by the Norwegians White Willow stands out, cannot be accepted wholesale and it would therefore be wise to be restrained while listening to the Sinkadus and be careful not to celebrate the inconceivable rhythms of the drum of Mats Segerdahl, which, echoing the anathemas thrown by the sullen bass of Rickard Biström ("Jag, Änglamarks Bane") and the hieratic processions of the hammond of Fredrik Karlsson ("Positivhalaren"), opens dimensional portals directly connected to the perpetual twilight of the "Epilog" woods.

Similarly, the hidden conversations between the guitar of Robert Sjöback and the enchanted flute of Linda Ågren ("Valkyria") should be placed in the right perspective, albeit reluctantly, as an untiring minstrel journeying through the motions of cities in revolt ("Kakafonia") and the disorienting silences of full moon nights, broken by the litanies of the cello of Lena Pettersson and the voice of a bassist guilty of revealing, in moments of agitation, all those limits not shared by his own instrument ("Ulv I Farakläder"). These are the aspects that make this "Cirkus," recorded in 1998, and its predecessor "Aurum Nostrum," born two years earlier, the exponents of a Hellenistic theater-like mannerism, impeccable and delightful, yet also incapable of daring any changes to the theories previously hypothesized, applied, and corrected in the unreachable Dimora degli Angeli.

Although it is legitimate to require an evaluation to keep a distance from easy unilateralism, without atrophying itself into cautious yet ineffective intermediate positions, it is perhaps utopian to demand the complete correction of those "crooked judgments," on the one hand responsible for denouncing the fallacious nature of human perception, but on the other hand suitable for transmitting an emphasis and spontaneity essential for the full enjoyment of any artistic product. In light of the facts, the only truly valid advice lies in heeding the warnings that Hesiod addressed to his brother Perse, saying: "Mind the measure; the opportune is above all best", perhaps seeking confirmation in the fleeting balances of Dike's scales.