LEGACY

'Legacy' is a fantastic round trip referring to the good old 1970s, hence reminding me of Diagonal and Astra in some way. A rather extensive instrumentation is to state featuring saxophone, clarinet, flute, theremin and last but not least diverse vintage keyboard/synth stuff. Core members Steve and Dave Houtmeyers have more than 15 years of band experience in the back. All in all you can expect a lush sound, not overinflated though, well thought out and arranged songs. This is how it works.

The tricky opener Requiem (For A Dying Creed) units heaviness, melancholy and melody in a convincing way. The song is arranged like an entertaining epic, with a symphonic touch, uptempo rocking and relaxed parts are alternating. Some reminiscences come up here and there - An Aerial Architect sounds King Crimson inspired and Pink Floyd leanings on the semi-acoustic ballad The Sad Destiny We Lament are absolutely permissible.

Provided with lyrics which even invite you to sing along The Empty Hourglass has a heavy prog outfit basically. This song is a highlight, definitely, made of great variety. Somewhere in between you will detect a jamming part, jazzy and spacey at once, underlaid with repetitive saxophone, mellotron and swirling synthesizer ... wow! As the title might imply My Journey To The Stars is more psychedelic tinged again decorated with hammond organ and a nice flute contribution by Steven Marx.

Finally the second monster track The Great Work brings it all to a close, mixing a cocktail of all the aforementioned styles, hard to describe ... due to this significant 70s retro flavour I'm sure 'Legacy' will please many prog lovers. Several sources designate, reduce the output of HYPNOS 69 on psychedelic rock, at least this album offers much more in my opinion, definitely a wider spectrum of styles and impressions. Strongly recommended.

All through teh first decade of the new millennium, the World prog community has been delightfully witnessing the development of Hypnos 69 into becoming one of the major forces of Belgium's current experimental rock ("The Eclectic Measure"), and subsequently, reinforcing itself as a major voice in the area of psychedelic prog worldwide ("Legacy"). Only time will tell if this is, indeed, the band's magnum opus, but as far as things go to date, this is Hypnos 69's defining highlight of its musical vision. The monumental 18? minute opener 'Requiem (for a dying credo)' is a stunning tour-de-force of various progressive motifs, moods and sonic schemes. The enthusiastic first section is marked by catchy guitar riffs and powerful mellotron washes, in a sort of Gnidrolog-meets-early Yes. Right before the 5 minute mark, the band shifts toward a languid motif, featuring alternated solos on flute and clarinet, but again, things won't take too long before the musicians retake the initial intensity and refurbish it with solid guitar and sax solos. The last 6? minutes serve as a room for the slow, majestic climax, that sits somewhere between classic Yes and "Meddle"-era Pink Floyd: a special mention goes to the magnificent guitar interventions, which effectively emphasize the current grandeur. 'An aerial architect' bears a semi-blues cadence overall, which actually helps the band to augment its approach to retro psychedelia: this song's particular mood is dominated by a mixture of Grateful Dead's cosmic jamming and Burrell-era KC's dynamics, with added shades of early Black Sabbath to provide an extra dose of rocking energy. The jazzy ornaments in the interlude serve as a source of eerie softness before the explosive coda. 'My journey to the stars' is sheer Floydian prog, which in turn makes Hypnos 69 draw closer to the classic albums by Nektar and Eloy: intimate and spacey at the same time, the pastoral lines delivered on flute state a nucleus of melancholy and contemplation. This trend of introspective flight and melancholic flow is preserved for the following piece, 'The Sad Destiny We Lament', whose cosmic mood, abundantly stated by the confluence of mellotron and synths through the bases of acoustic guitar and glockenspiel, designs a dreamy ambience in a most efficient way; once the tympani arrive and the synth layers become bigger and louder, the dream becomes a real mystic experience (? or almost). With 'The empty hourglass' we are treated with another long progressive journey, near the 11 minute mark. The flamboyant energy of the opening track returns here with no strings attached: the opening motif is punchy right away. Forward on, a jazz-oriented jam in 7/8 establishes a subtly crushing cadence, somehow vandergraffian. By the 8 ½ minute mark, a false ending stages a moment of silence that actually paves the way for one last sung portion developed through alarm effects and a tremendously rocking coda. 'Jerusalem' is very different: exotic and mysterious, its central jam creates a moderate crescendo among an atmosphere of bucolic psychedelia that might as well bring memories of Amon Duul II's softer numbers. This great work is closed down by a track precisely entitled 'The great work', a long 18 ½ minute long progressive marathon. Mellotron, Frippian guitar textures, electric piano and bass pedals set the initial mood for the 3 minute opening section. Next is a ceremonious passage full of Floydiand overtones, aimed at the stimulation of the listener's contemplative mind. Around the 10 minute mark, the band states an intensification of the overall ambience by magnifying the rocking vigor implicit in the opening theme. At this point, Marx delivers his wildest sax solo in the entire album. At the 13 minute mark, the band goes all KC-meets-VDGG, and later on, the closing section states something that sounds like a homage to PF's 'Echoes'. More than just a legacy, this album is a manifesto of reasons to love prog rock while we're about to enter the second decade of the new millennium. Hypnos 69 is simply a must in the 21st century prog collector's treasure chest.

How could I have missed out on a band from my own country that lists Anekdoten and Motorpsycho amongst their favorite current bands? With a sound that brings the spirit of early Floyd, Sabbath and Crimson back to life, this album has simply been written just for me.

I don't know if there's a recipe to make the glory of the early 70s come alive again, but getting the sound right is sure one of the main ingredients. And that is exactly what Hypnos 69 achieved here. Just like Diagonal and Astra, the band combines psych-progressive songwriting with a vintage 70s sound that is natural, dynamic, rocking and that respects the true sound of all instruments. No studio tricks, no proTools cut-and paste, no synthetics, no plastic, no fake. The list of instruments is impressive: an array of drum and percussion, bass, guitars, effects, organs, mellotron, saxophone, Hammond,... Luckily not all at once but spread nicely over the plus 72 minute album length.

Another secret to make 'retro' work is to avoid being the umpteenth Genesis or Yes clone. A better approach is to combine different styles into a new mix that - even if derivative - still has a personality of its own. Some of the influences on Legacy are 1970-era Crimson, early 70s hard rock, jazz-rock, Ozzy-vocals, some Floyd, Yes and even some BJH alike vocal harmonies. Hypnos 69 have a history as a stoner band and there are still traces of that in the sound, but the songwriting has become fully Prog, offering long composed suites with spacey instrumental breaks and concise improvisations. It is fun spotting the occasional musical quotes from other bands, from King Crimson for instance (there's an echo of Indoor Games on An Aerial Architect) and from Yes (melodies from The Fish at 3.18 into The Empty Hourglass). My symphonic knowledge is limited to the mainstream bands so there may be more...

The album amply demonstrates that you don't have to excel in originality and innovation to make a worthy addition to today's music. Just like Diagonal and Astra before them, Hypnos 69 have forged their various vintage influences into a remarkable trip back to 1970. 4.5 stars

Fifth album from this excellent Flemish quartet, they managed to better their already superb Eclectic Measure released two years earlier. Coming with an outstanding and very remarkable (as in... you can't possibly miss with its sparkling red-orange colours) psych/prog artwork that fits quite well the sonic content of the album, Legacy is an exciting almost classic prog, but given its decade of birth, we shall call it retro-prog, without it being derogatory in any sense, way, shape or form. Strangely enough, despite loads of guitar heroics, it's not mentioned that Brother Steve plays it (or anyone else for that matter) and the other Steve (Marks is now not only playing wind instruments, but seems tio take care of most of the keyboard parts

Sooooo H69 offers a pretty enthusiasting brand of retro/classic prog rock, with all of the very flattering sounds of that magic decade, including some vintage trons, Moog, Rhodes, sax, flutes and also (and unfortunately-still) those trafficked vocals through some filters and effects, which in the long run become slightly irritating. The band's sound is still quite influenced by Crimson and Anekdoten, but this time much more by Fripp's cohorts (more the Court to Islands era) than on the previous album, but not being too derivative. It would be easy to point out the opening and closing suites as the highlights of the album (and they are), but there is more to it than that. All of the tracks are of a good level, if not Jerusalem being a tad weaker.

Opening on 18-mins+rapid fire heavy motif, the 3-movement Requiem suite is a now-typical H69 track, with plenty of breaks and tempo changes, excellent interplay between all. Indeed the almost 18-mins closing ambitious (look at the movements' titles) "Great Work" suite is almost perfect in its progression from a quiet slow start, gradually moving and strengthening (via some wild guitar soli) into a solid rocker with some very entertaining moments and ending up into a grandiose finale, but not before having induce down your spine a few chills and tingles, before heading out ever so quietly.

Well from the more accessible prog from Belgium (this means not counting Aranis or Univers Zero), it appears that the match is quite close between Madelgaire's (Im)Patience and Hypnos' Legacy, but I think the latter edges out the competition, mostly because it's flawless.

A great collection of retro rock with prog qualities in the vein of Procul Harum, Robin Trower, Uriah Heep, Nektar, Grand Funk, Blind Faith, Traffic, Utopia, and even Camel and Pink Floyd. Impeccable sound reproduction, stellar drumming and guitar leads and compositional and lots of 'borrowed' riffs/melody lines from classic rock and prog rock songs. This album is exciting and never dull, if a bit familiar. For example: imagine Traffic and post-Sinfield/Lake/Giles KCrimson jamming to Yes' "The Fish" "schindleria praematurus" vocal riff: you get "The Empty Hourglass" (9/10). Or how 'bout Fripp/Eno and Jethro Tull playing with Pink Floyd on their 1974 Dark Side of the Moon tour: you get "The Great Work" (8/10). Or Blind Faith playing on stage with Supertramp and Nektar on the "Journey to the Centre of the Eye" album tour: you get "Requiem (for a Dying Creed)" (9/10). Anyway, you get my drift. The bottom line is that this is excellent music for listening--especially for bringing you back to about 1972 or 3--yet all original music with its own charm and clever hooks. Well composed, well performed, excellent production--well done, Hypnos 69!

4.5 stars. Not sure if this is a true masterpiece--though it is reminiscent of many masters of the 1970s. 4.5 stars for now! We'll see in five years how memorable much less essential this one is.

This is the latest album from Belgium's HYPNOS 69 and for me it's a big step up from their previous record "The Eclectic Measure". The main issue I had with the previous album was the vocals, i'm just not a fan of the tone of them when he sings with passion. And while this issue had an influence on my rating for that one, I feel they've upped their game in a major way here making this a solid four star albums despite some perceived flaws by yours truly. I agree with Hugues that they've changed their sound somewhat to more of a KING CRIMSON flavour circa "In The Court Of The Crimson King" / "Islands" sound with the prominant sax and mellotron at times. So yes "Legacy" is an apt title for this recording. This is an almost 73 minute album yet the time flies by when listening, that says a lot.

Things get started with the almost 18 minute opener called "Requiem(For A Dying Creed)". It hits the ground running and this continues for almost 2 minutes when it settles down and vocals join in. So much going on here as the bass, organ, guitar and mellotron impress. It settles back even more 4 1/2 minutes in with clarinet helping out. Great section before 7 minutes with sampled spoken words then it kicks in hard with some ripping sax. The guitar takes over then themes begin to be repeated starting around 10 minutes. Love the guitar solo after 16 minutes that goes on to the end. Nice! "An Aerial Architect" reminds me of "21st Century Schizoid Man" for almost a minute with the heaviness and sax, then it settles down with vocals. This is a pretty good sax driven tune people and check out the sound just after 5 minutes. "My Journey To The Stars" has this intricate and relaxed sound as reserved vocals join in. Clarinet replaces the vocals before 2 minutes and we get some floating organ as well. A tasteful guitar solo 3 1/2 minutes in that becomes passionate as it plays out. I like the spacey final minute.

"The Sad Destiny We Lament" has a PINK FLOYD vibe with those melancholic synths. Vocals join in as well in this psychedelic beauty. "The Empty Hourglass" is almost 11 minutes in length and one of my favourites. It opens with some excellent drum work as the guitar and organ join in and light it up early on. Vocals and sax take over as it settles back some. I like the calm with sax after 3 minutes as it trips along. Mellotron 6 minutes in as the guitar starts to solo. Vocals follow then a big finish. "Jerusalem" has a relaxed sound to it with clarinet and vocals. Check out the sax later on as the sound turns heavier. "The Great Work" ends it and this is the 18 1/2 minute closer. This is slow moving and beautiful with spacey keys, subtle guitar notes and plenty of mellotron. Words speak out of the floating soundscape. Drums before 3 1/2 minutes and the guitar becomes more passionate, organ too. It kicks in harder after 5 minutes, amazing! It settles down again then a guitar solo arrives 9 1/2 minutes in followed by sax a minute later. The sax is insane 12 1/2 minutes in then mellotron arrives a minute later. A calm arrives after 15 minutes to the end.

Yes this one grew on me as my first listen didn't go all that well. I'm still not big on the vocals but this is easily 4 stars despite them.

Hypnos keep one foot in the present and one foot in the incense-clouded psychedelic past on Legacy, which includes extensive influence from more or less every classic prog band which took a significant influence from the psychedelic age and some more obscure ones besides. (For instance, I could swear that buried in the musical morass of the Empty Hourglass I caught lead vocalist Steve Houtmeyers hitting a stentorian tone reminiscent of Fantasy's Howard Werth, whilst slipping in a lead guitar melody reminiscent of The Fish (Schindleria Praematurus) by Yes.)

The peak of the album is the epic closing track, the magnificent The Great Work, the parts of which are named after the different stages that alchemical lore describes for the production of the Philosopher's Stone - and in this morass of space, prog, and psychedelic influences, with Steven Marx tooting up an absolute storm on saxophone that wouldn't go amiss on one of Van der Graaf Generator's wilder efforts, Hypnos 69 turn their diverse ingredients into gold.