MUSICAL WITCHCRAFT II - UTOPIA

This is the second album from Musical Witchcraft, but this time it is very much a group album whereas the first was basically a solo album from Kollár Attila who is flautist with Solaris. It is mostly an instrumental album, with vocals only on two numbers, and while it is being pushed as a prog album it has at least as much in common with folk and also sometimes getting quite close to New Age. The album initially started life as flute-acoustic guitar compositions and although the music has then been arranged and expanded upon this is still the basis. The flute is often the lead instrument, as would be expected, and is constant throughout the album as the complete band does not play on every song, with the line-up changing as required. Sometimes the flute plays against a violin, and there is an interesting passage on one number where he is playing against a bassoon, which has to be said doesn't happen very often in prog music.

That is not to say that it is an acoustic album throughout and that the flute is always at the forefront as there are times when the electric guitar needs to take control. Overall an interesting album and while not as powerful as Mindflowers is still a fun album to listen to. www.perifericrecords.com

Originally appeared in Feedback #72, Feb 03