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Ring van Möbius — Firebrand
(Apollon Records ARP084, 2025, CD / LP / DL)

by Jon Davis, Published 2025-09-18

Firebrand Cover art

I haven’t delved into why the band Ring van Möbius has decided to cease activity, leaving Firebrand as their final album, but I can say definitively that they are going out while still at the top of their game. That game is classic progressive rock heavy on vintage keyboard sounds. Much of the time, that involves a Hammond organ, but you’ll hear fine work on other keyboards as well. It’s a variation on the Emerson, Lake & Palmer sound, with nods to Il Balletto di Bronzo courtesy of a sweeping melodic sense. Firebrand features only three tracks, kicking off with the title track, which comes in just under ten minutes. Drummer Dag Olav Husås gets the initial statement, with bass and organ jumping in before a brief vocal interlude. Thor Erik Helgesen takes after Keith Emerson on the first few ELP albums by using a modular synthesizer rather than something more user-friendly, and many of the synth sounds could have come right off Brain Salad Surgery. Bassist Håvard Rasmussen plays a Fender Bass VI, but from his tone, it could well be a Rickenbacker. And there’s no guitar in sight. “The Fever” is a fourteen-minute workout, and they finish off with “False Dawn,” which tops 25 minutes. All of the pieces feature multiple sections of contrasting moods, tempos, and rhythms, and they don’t spend a lot of time riding any riff for extended soloing. I suppose listeners who just can’t stand ELP might not enjoy what Ring van Möbius is up to, or feel that there’s enough of this type of music in the world already — heck, even ELP seem to have taken that attitude eventually. But I think Firebrand is good enough in its own right to move beyond simple comparisons. Just having a lot of heavy organ doesn’t make music irrelevant or redundant. Whatever the members of this band have planned for their futures, I wish them well, and I’m just glad they left such a fine album as their swan song.

Filed under: New releases, 2025 releases

Related artist(s): Ring van Möbius

More info
http://ringvanmbius.bandcamp.com/album/firebrand

 

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