PRELUDE

One-shot Paris-based French band, formed in 1994 by bassist S.Fred, drummer Didier Pegues, keyboardist Philippe Benabes, guitarist Eric Savarino, while Pascal Mocaer joined on bass a bit later to allow Fred to switch permanently on vocals and keyboards.ADN played live next to Cafeine, Arkham and Galaad and were joined in 1996 by violin player Elise Bruckert in order to develop a more symphonic style.By the time of their debut's recordings problem started to appear.Savarino leaves ADN and he is replaced by Patrice Aili and later by Sens's leader Vynce Leff.As Leff was fully commited to his group, Franck Dehaut helps the band for a short time and Bruno Vercelli was eventually the last to handle the guitars.Troubles did not stop there.By the end of the process Mocaer quits and he was replaced by Thierry Le Nezet.After so many restraints ADN's first album ''Prelude'' sees the light privately in summer 99'.

Typical example of 90's French Prog with a blink towards the 70's, ''Prelude'' is highlighted by three very long prog epics, taking up 50 minutes of music alone, surrounded by a few shorter cuts, all of them come in a Classic Neo/Symphonic Prog style akin to CAFEINE and HALLOWEEN, while MOONGARDEN, COLLAGE and SATELLITE are good reference points too.Long, elaborate tracks with orchestral keyboards, sensitive vocals and crying guitar lines, performed mostly in mid-tempo compositions full of finesse and creating a pallette of emotional colors.The violin parts do add a strong Classical flavor to the music, which is nevertheless in the more symphonic side of Neo Prog, based on stretched symphonic synthesizers and efficient thematic changes.Vocals are split in French and English, although Fred's voice is more satisfying in his native language.The music is mostly dramatic with plenty of dark-sounding segments and almost spacey, keyboard-driven instrumental preludes, while the compositions are quite tight and even feature bits of Mellotron in a pair of them.Very good electric solos in the vein of MARILLION or JADIS are also in the menu, among the highlights of the album.The 23-min. ''Fool or subject'' was the absolute bet for ADN, a very good track, where suprisingly the style of the group becomes more ethereal and positive.

ADN was not mean to live for long, as the group apparently disbanded after ''Prelude'', despite a couple of more line-up shakes.Didier Pegues and Philippe Benabes remained within the prog community, forming Eye 2 Eye a couple of years later.

Nice, well-crafted and trully obscure album, full of atmospheric textures and a couple of real goodies among the tracks.Recommended both to fans of Symphonic Rock and Neo Prog.