Agusa - 2026 - Panacea

(45:54; Karisma Records)

I am finding it incredibly difficult to wrap my head around the fact that Agusa were only formed in 2013 as if you had told me this was from the Seventies, or at the very latest from the Swedish retro prog revival in the Nineties, then I would have totally understood. During that time they have released six studio albums and four live, of which this is the latest and contains just three songs. There have been various membership changes over the years, but this particular line-up has been together for the last two albums, and it shows in the way they link together. Mikael Ödesjö (guitar) is the only person still there from the very beginning, but Jenny Puertas (flute, vocals), Mikael Ödesjö (guitar), Roman Andrén (keyboards), Simon Ström (bass) and Nicolas Difonis (drums, percussion, vocals) are joined in a way which only comes from countless hours playing together in rehearsal and on the road. 

Take middle track “Den Förtrollade Skogen” for example. When it appeared on their 2017 self-titled third album it was less than nine minutes long, but now it is well over twenty minutes in length and includes a drum solo! If that isn’t Seventies, what is? Roman doesn’t appear to own any keyboard sounds created less than 50 years ago, and that provides a real chunkiness to proceedings while the guitar and flute interweave between those building blocks, and both the bass and drums hit very hard indeed. I am sure this could not have come out of any country other than Sweden as that country has long had an affinity with retrogressive prog and have produced a great many wonderful bands (both Änglagård and Anekdoten are Swedish remember, strange that all these band names commence with the same letter) who have taken that as a base. However, Agusa appear to have created a time machine and have fallen through a black hole to bring us future music from the past which is tangible and real. This is instrumental regressive rock as its finest, and I love it.  

Kev Rowland, July 2026

Links:
https://www.facebook.com/agusaband
https://www.karismarecords.no/