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35 Tapes — Veil on Life
(Apollon Records ARP095, 2026, CD / LP / DL)

by Jon Davis, Published 2026-05-10

Veil on Life Cover art

Norwegian Mellotron junkies 35 Tapes are up to their fourth album celebrating the venerable proto-sampler keyboard. Veil on Life presents six tracks of moody melodic music that leans towards progressive rock without really tipping over into the genre, but the classiness of the writing and arrangements should please listeners looking for a prog fix. To be fair, it’s not all Mellotrons all the time. There are plenty of other keyboards in the mix, as well as bass and drums, not to mention uniformly strong vocals in both lead and backing roles. For this outing, the band’s original drummer has departed (having left after the second album), replaced by Kai Lundewall, and a couple of musicians who appeared as guests on previous albums seem to be full members (or the equivalent, as they appear on all tracks). Andreas Eriksen and Jo Wang are both credited with keyboards, and alongside founding members Morten Lund (keyboards, guitar, lead vocals) and Jarle Wangen (bass, backing vocals). There are stylistic roots in Camel of the 70s along with a less folk-inflected Moody Blues (maybe that’s just from the Mellotron sounds!), and a modern comparison would be The Pineapple Thief. All in all, Veil on Life is a worthy successor to Lost and Found and Home; somehow we missed out on Fabric of Time, but I’m sure it’s another gem.

Filed under: New releases, 2026 releases

Related artist(s): 35 Tapes

More info
http://35tapes.bandcamp.com/album/veil-on-life

 

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