LEGACY

'Legacy' is a fantastic round trip referring to the good old 1970s, hence reminding me of Diagonal and Astra in some way. A rather extensive instrumentation is to state featuring saxophone, clarinet, flute, theremin and last but not least diverse vintage keyboard/synth stuff. Core members Steve and Dave Houtmeyers have more than 15 years of band experience in the back. All in all you can expect a lush sound, not overinflated though, well thought out and arranged songs. This is how it works.

The tricky opener Requiem (For A Dying Creed) units heaviness, melancholy and melody in a convincing way. The song is arranged like an entertaining epic, with a symphonic touch, uptempo rocking and relaxed parts are alternating. Some reminiscences come up here and there - An Aerial Architect sounds King Crimson inspired and Pink Floyd leanings on the semi-acoustic ballad The Sad Destiny We Lament are absolutely permissible.

Provided with lyrics which even invite you to sing along The Empty Hourglass has a heavy prog outfit basically. This song is a highlight, definitely, made of great variety. Somewhere in between you will detect a jamming part, jazzy and spacey at once, underlaid with repetitive saxophone, mellotron and swirling synthesizer ... wow! As the title might imply My Journey To The Stars is more psychedelic tinged again decorated with hammond organ and a nice flute contribution by Steven Marx.

Finally the second monster track The Great Work brings it all to a close, mixing a cocktail of all the aforementioned styles, hard to describe ... due to this significant 70s retro flavour I'm sure 'Legacy' will please many prog lovers. Several sources designate, reduce the output of HYPNOS 69 on psychedelic rock, at least this album offers much more in my opinion, definitely a wider spectrum of styles and impressions. Strongly recommended.