NEO PROPHET: Time (PROGRESSIVE ROCK): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

It took the Belgians of Neo-Prophet 6 years to give a successor to "Monsters", a neo-progressive nugget that was very nicely acclaimed when it was released. During this period, the team changed somewhat, as two compatriots from the space-prog band Quantum Fantay came to replace the original keyboard and guitar players.

But if the team has evolved, the recipe has remained unchanged: as its prefix indicates, Neo-Prophet is a neo-progressive rock band who use recipes (some would say worn out) from the nineties, but which have been brought up to date. In a style often reminiscent of Shadowland, to which a touch of Saga would have been added, the Belgian quartet lays the foundations of their music on a sharp rhythmic guitar that would have almost looked like hard-rock in the 80s, and big keyboard sounds, either as an accompaniment in the form of synthetic layers, or as devastating solos. Once again, it's impossible not to evoke Clive Nolan as the sounds deployed by Pieter van den Broeck are so close to those of the English. To complete the picture, the indispensable solo guitar makes a number of interventions, each one brighter than the last, the combination of all these ingredients culminating in the excellent instrumental 'The Hour-Glass', during which the players happily let off steam!

Yet all this would be nothing, or at least not much, if these ingredients were not used in the service of unstoppable melodies, full of all kinds of twists and turns, both melodic and rhythmic. As on "Monsters", the band doesn't hesitate to change key or break a melody to replace it by another one, thus allowing the listener to keep all his senses alert. So of course, some will argue that a few passages close to marillion ('Grendel') have already been heard a thousand times before and reused by many bands. Of course, but the use made of it here fits perfectly and a track like 'Divide and Divide' that perfectly synthesizes this spirit is simply thrilling.

To (slightly) counterbalance this (slightly) idyllic picture until now, we can only regret a few moments a bit hollow (it's finally in the big sound that the band is the most efficient) that some will assimilate as welcome breaths and also point out the overbidding of some passages flirting with the pompous side that the detractors of the genre hate.

Not enough to spoil the pleasure of the followers of a neo-progressive, well-built neo-progressive, intelligent enough to marry immediate pleasure with the multiplication of listening. Amateurs of the genre will love it while the usual opponents of this style of progressive will be only a little more comforted in their position. - Official website

NEO PROPHET

TIME

FREIA

PROGRESSIVE ROCK