IN CONCERTO

I remember that at about two years ago 'Tattoo Ko' (perhaps the #1 proghead in Holland!) said to me that he had seen one of the most memorable concerts in his life, it was the Italian band La Maschera Di Cera in the splendid Belgian progrock temple 'Spirit '66' in Verviers. He talked about wonderful music, a very emotional atmosphere and ... three Mellotrons on stage! So I was very curious to their live-CD when I got it as a promo. Well, the short first song contains a kind of "Watcher of the skies part two", what a mindblowing Mellotron sound. The other 6 compositions (between 8 and 20 minutes) are a tribute to the famous prorock dinosaurs sound of the Seventies: lots of shifting moods, many accellarations, great soli on guitar, flute and keyboards and, last but not least, very moving bombastic eruptions featuring Moog Taurs bass pedals, majestic Mellotron waves (violin and choir) and spectacualr Minimoog runs. The pleasant vocals reminds me of MEN OF LAKE. At some moments the music sounds a bit too cacaphonic or avant-garde to me but in general this band plays in the wonderful 24-carat symphonic rock tradition like early KING CRIMSON, YES and GENESIS delivering lots of analogue keyboards (Fender, Hammond, Mellotron, Moog). This is music that grabs you or not, it's a very emotional experience!