STOYZ VI DOZÉVÉLOY

Honeyelk was an extremely short lived French Zeuhl group, who released but two albums, both in 1979. This second, Stoys Vi Dozévéloy, is a very jovial and upbeat brand of Magma's genre, with strong dependence on saxophone. Despite having the album reissued somewhat recently (or so I heard), Honeyelk remains an extreme obscurity. Sound quality is absolutely terrible, and is the biggest hindrance to the album, though not the only.

The compositions are somewhat uninteresting. There's a bland decency to the songwriting, that makes it less than memorable. But, the compositions are by no means bad, and the playing is all very good (drumming by Christian Blanc being the most noteworthy). It's also really, really short. It could very have been an EP. Apparently, when the album was reissued some bonus tracks were thrown in, but I've heard those were less than essential.

Honeyelk is a completely alright Zeuhl band. It is no starting place for the genre, nor is it a highlight. But it is a really nice album, and any Zeuhl fanatics might want to pick it up.