EURHYBIA

Totally unknown Neo Prog band from Paris, France, active during the early-90's and named after a female figure from Greek mythology.The line-up was Serge Legall on vocals, Pascal Dottel on guitar, Marc van der Cruyssen on bass, Fabrice Dottel on keyboards and Olivier Jamain on drums, reputedly one or more members were propably of Swiss citizenship.Their only self-titled album was produced by Ange's Francis Decamps and released in 1990 on Ugum.

The style of Eurhybia was full-blown, dynamic Neo Prog with strong symphonic leanings in the vein of COLLAGE, IQ or DEYSS.The music is loaded with tons of keyboards and powerful guitars, accompanied by Serge Legall's passionate, non-accented vocals.Semi-long tracks with an energetic approach, containing plenty of breaks, symphonic interludes, dynamic rhythm guitars but also some decent melodic tunes, always balanced between vocal and instrumental passages.The sound of the synthesizers is quiet thin and plastic at moments, but this flaw has been overcome by the overall strong composing skills of the group.Pascal Dottel, a talented guitarist, shows a tendency towards sharp riffing and melodic solos, but the musicianship remains basically driven by the huge synth waves of keyboardist Fabrice Dottel and his ability to produce emphatic atmospheres through his workouts.Additionally the style is far from easy-going, the breaks are numerous and there is also a fair dose of interplays to be found in ''Eurhybia''.

Not only Eurhybia became an obscure name of the prog scene through the years, but nothing has been heard about any of the band's members.Their sole release remains a very strong output of modern Neo/Symphonic Progressive Rock with some great guitar and keyboard parts.Strongly recommended. ..3.5 stars.