MY HABIT

The Coenobite is the moniker chosen by Dutch multi-instrumentalist Coen Vrouwenvelder in early-90's, free translated from Greek into ''common life'', under which he produced a couple of albums.His first work back in 1988 was the demo ''Turn the page'', a low budget production recorded with a 4-track recorder and a very cheap equipment.This was followed by the full-legth CD release ''The habit'', featuring Coen at the front cover dressed as monk and shot in his home's garden.

It was a self-financed production with Coen helped only on guitar solos and voices by Joost Cornelissen and Nynke Kooistra, suffering from the awful drum programming and the average- sounding keyboards, but also containing some good electric guitar work.Actually ''The habit'' sounds a lot like the early efforts of ELEGANT SIMPLICITY, the one-man project of Steve McCabe.Melodic, mostly instrumental, Progressive Rock characterized by the good electric solos, the dreamy keyboard work, sometimes close to New Age soundscapes and the repetitive grooves.The guitar of Mr. Vrouwenvelder is the shining instrument in here, covering parts filled with melodic solos, dramatic chops and groovy leads, while his keyboard work also contains some nice ideas, especially on the grandiose symphonic passages and the few harsichord notes.However the recording sounds somewhat amateur, the drum machine is really unbearable, while the album has tons from similarities from track to track, all based on the same dramatic atmosphere.

Dedicated fans of acts like ELEGANT SIMPLICITY, COLIN MASSON, MIKE OLDFIELD or modern CAMEL but with a poorer sound are those having some possibilities to dive deep into this album.Decent effort by a single person, but not good enough to categorized as recommended...2.5 stars.