HORA NATA

I must admit, I had never heard of this Belgian band until I was reading a forum about bands that sound similar to YES. With a name like Banzai and the theatrical makeup that the band members wear, I held out little hope that this band was the one I should sample.

Can I say that I love this album?

As others have already pointed out, it struggles in places with arrangements, and the band certainly borrows sounds and motifs from other well-known prog bands. But they get into some cool foot-tapping grooves on most of these songs, and the influences they've chosen are excellent. It doesn't hurt that they are all great musicians in their own right. On the main album's compositions, it's mostly instrumental and fast-paced; I'm kind of surprised that they didn't use vocals more as they are very good.

The shorter bonus tracks do feature vocals more, and some really nice harmonies. Those songs are a little more on the "accessible" side, perhaps intended more as single releases? I actually hear The Association similitudes with some of those bonus tracks! (Not a bad thing, IMO)

I paid dearly for a CD version of this album, and happy to have done it. This is an album that deserves to be heard. 4 stars for me.