LEGACY

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.