LIVE IN FRANCE 2006

After two studio-albums the Canadian quartet Hamadryad has released a live-CD that was recorded on the Crescendo Festival in France. You can read the enthousiastic comments by the band members about the atmosphere and the enviroment in the booklet. In general Hamadryad sounds dynamic and often exciting featuring lots of bombastic and heavy parts with some mellow moments: a wonderful sampled Mellotron intro followed by a powerful bass, a fiery guitar solo and a spectacular pitchtbend driven synthesizer solo in the opener Sparks And Benign Magic / Self Made Man, raw and biting guitar and sensational keyboard work like a blend of prog metal and Red-era King Crimson in the songs Amora Demonis, Nameless and One Voice, wah-wah guitar, wonderful Mellotron sounds, howling guitar and again spectaculair pitchbend driven synthesizer flights in Polaroid Vendetta, an intro featuring soaring keyboards and gradually a more lush sound ending with a great grand finale with choir-Mellotron and sensitive electric guitar in Still They Laugh Pt. 1 / Pt. 2 and finally a catchy rhythm with blistering guitar and flashy synthesizer runs in ...Action! So a lot of excitement but unfortunately I have to conclude that the vocals are often mediocre and a bit too theatrical and at some moments even a bit of a blow to the music. In my opinion Hamadryad should continue as an instrumental band, that's their quality and I enjoyed it a lot! My rating 3,5 stars.