HOLOGRAM

Hologram is the debut album from this terrific swiss neo prog band that I had hazard here on PA only after they had broken up for quite some time. But I fell for their sound from the get go and got all of their four CDs at once (along with several other groups I was discovering at the time, 2006/7). The bad thing about getting so many albums in one buying is that you tend to focus on the ones that are on the "blow you away" category, and tend to neglect those which do not, So for years I totally loved Fears and Alone, and, therefore, gave little attention to the "lesser ones", More Grains Of Sand and Hologram. Recently I decided to give another try with some CDs that I had not listen for a long time. And I found that those two early Clepsydra works were much better than I initially thought.

I knew that More Grains Of Sand would be great because of the high praising most Clepsydra fans give it, but there was not so much fanfare for their debut. And I understand why: compared to their latter work, Hologram is quite less original and appealing. However, this is far from being bad or even weak. In fact I was surprised to find all the elements of their sound already here, and the strong musicianship and performance of all involved. It is ok that their trademark sound was not quite developed and some of the songs are still "green". Still, the tracks are all at least good, with some very good ones becoming quite popular among fas. I must say that my opinion about this CD (and More Grains Of Sand) may be influenced by the remastered CDS released in 2014, which gave them a clearer and brighter sound that fits perfectly to their sound and kind of "fix" the not so good original production.

Now you can hear Gabriele Hoffman guitar solos with all their mighty power, Phillip Hubert subtle keyboards are more on the fore and Andy Thomen bass is also more audible. The only not so positive aspect of the new production is the drums, a little too compressed that make it sounds a little artificial, but nothing that spoils the overall greatness of their sound. The only reason I don´t rate Hologram four stars is because the songwriting is not as spectacular as their latter output. It is good, as I mentioned before, but they would get much better from More Grains Of Sand onwards. So, 3,5 stars is a fair rating.

I was really happy to rediscover this CD, that is very pleasant, melodic and well made. Clepsydra´s debut was very promising indeed and, thankfully, they ended up more than fulfilling that promise. And I am even happier that they came back recently with a powerful new album. I don´t think I would recommend Hologram for a newbie, but if you already know their latter output, then listening to this one will give some good moments too. They started with the right foot.