ONCE THERE WAS

1. Unholy Waters keyboard intro by Albion It's clear that a Yamaha CS-80 with Tony's GENESIS sauce allows itself to magnify the break after the classic neo-prog air of the beginning, fruity dynamic changes then incursions on ARENA and YES of yesteryear with the underwater break starting on the typical bass and the enchanting keyboards; the sound returns to the imprint of IQ with the bucolic air Charisma Label; final piano arpeggio bringing the Hackettian guitar solo making you close your eyes to appreciate even more this neo-classical finale with sampled but fresh trumpets; wow, it starts strong. 2. Crossing Pangea with a remarkable synth intro, solemn and colorful, latent too, just enough to keep your ears pricked; then instrumental sections with a cascading guitar solo straightened by the warm, Olympian keyboards; yes 4'30 of pure happiness that starts again; Midway through, a break with fat keyboards spurting their notes everywhere, the bass more Yessian, a heavy side even... and then the latent drift and then now ANGE in the distance with a solo of astonishing sensitivity evoking Hassan's! In short, a huge instrumental there with this fade-out to YES blues. 3. The Following for the consensual nursery rhyme built around the vocal and lacking the madness present in the previous tracks; the piano also sets the rhythm before having the instrumental flight which confirms that these musicians are real musical rascals; in short, ideal as a long interlude.

4. Once There Was ends the album with a 31-minute suite! 11 parts, sections evoking the atmosphere of Albion, Charisma label, on many identifiable bands of the 70s, YES, GENTLE GIANT, ELP, KANSAS and GENESIS for this magical Mellotron; Brief, melting and magnificent intro, nostalgic, making the hairs vibrate; despite this, the atmosphere sounds modern with a rather nervous recorded sound, with solemn electronic escapades flirting with the 80s like on 'Dimension of Darkness', 'Gathering of Shadows' for the spleen break à la MARILLION, overwhelming, 'The Agitation' for the heavy interlude, smashing à la SHADOW GALLERY and FOCUS for the organ, 'Videosyncrasy' for the vocal reminding me of Martin BARRE's singer, in fact it doesn't stop... but it gets a little scattered; this verbal mixing is still a must and also brings me back to the fabulous 'Génération13' by SAGA; 'The Carnival of Doom' as an interlude for the barrel organ and the fusion musical maelstrom; 'Falling in Line' changes line with a BOSTON-style track, yes from afar, but!! the very neo 80s synth like MARILLION you know, then ELYSIAN and HOLDING it's finally good, good return to the verse and my ears send me back to YES and STYX mixed together, astounding! 'What Once Was' now with an interface, an interlude from another planet distilling a dreamlike flamenco that Steve would have made as a double for QUEEN, the dark and dull electro keyboard at the same time, hold on Aragon while a sampled flute soothes the ear in hyperactive saturation; 'Rest Assured' in solemn mode on the poignant vocal; 'Now the Sun' feels like a planned finale. A good 31 minutes don't go unnoticed either. The catchy vocals precede the spatial, soaring, monolithic, and melancholic outro, followed by a return to the dark, muffled, and bombastic keyboard that closes the album with a vanishing piano fade-out; phew, I'm playing it again!!!

A musical journey with varied tempos and time signatures, interludes galore, melodies galore, and slightly wild heavy arrangements, the musicians wanting, I think, to show off their dexterity... In short, a very good album.

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