The very absence of Rypdal from a recording studio for nearly two decades only adds to the mythology of the man. The expectation is bound to be high. But the great man and his band, all collaborators of old, delivers.

Now 73, Rypdal shows no intention of forsaking his now legendary and hugely sculpted sound. Almost hymnal in its stately progress in ever o'er vaulting soarings, the opening ‘As if the Ghost…Was Me!?’ only heralds further architectonic structures like ‘What Was I Thinking’.

There can be lyrical moments like Hallreide's yearning fretless meditation against Storlokken's churchish organ on ‘By His Lonesome’. Or Rypdal's musings with those oh so sustained notes on ‘Baby Beautiful’.

But there's also the hellish breakdown while striving for heaven's gate on the remorseless title track, or the ominous ‘Dawn’ which instead of welcoming a bright day feels more like a wound that bleeds afresh.

Running for only 35 minutes, that's probably all the intensity we lesser mortals can bear. Let us hope there is yet more to come, that this is no twilight of the Gods.