L'HYMNE A LA VIE

This is a German six piece band (from Karlsruhe), rooted in 1984 and founded by the brothers Franco and Gerald Rouvinez, both born in the French part of Switzerland. The absolute highlight in their long history is a joint performance with the legendary French progrock band Ange. In 1996 Cr'puscule released their debuut album entitled Les Lunes Se L'vent (maxi CD, 4 tracks) that contains a blend of rock and French 'chansons'. It was followed by the 'unplugged' CD Signe De Vie (with old and new songs), then L'Hymne A La Vie (2006) and a few years ago Virr (2014). Despite the name of Ange in this intro, only the powerful, expressive and sometimes theatrical vocals reminds me of early Ange. Like in the songs Prologue RE and L'Armada. But in general the 19 melodic songs (in five parts between 3 and 21 minutes) are very tastefully arranged with the focus on the elements variety and creativity, what a wonderful and often compelling music this is.

From a slow rhythm with howling guitar runs (in the vein of Steve Rothery) and lush organ to a tight rhythm with propulsive guitar riffs in Apr's Un Pas.

Harpsichord-like flights and intense slide-guitar in the dreamy L'Arbre Del Arr't.

A captivating contrast between soaring keyboards with theatricals vocals and a compelling rhythm with howling guitar runs in Prologue RE.

Swinging neo-prog with 'slap' bas work and a delicate synthesizer solo in La Cr'ature.

Expressive vocals, beautiful play on acoustic ' and electric guitar and a majestic grand finale with a church organ sound and guitar in the moving Moeurs.

An electronic oriented atmosphere with wonderful keyboard work in Prologue EL.

And varied sounds and a final part with a bombastich church organ sound in Mort De L'Irr'el.

So 'never a dull moment' on this almost 70 minutes long CD, what a captivating prog, highly recommended to those who are up to French vocals! The packaging is in DVD format and contains a huge booklet with lyrics in French.

Other interesting unknown prog to discover, from all over the world:

Vlad V - Brasil (varied prog with swirling flute play)

Solaris Fusion - Hungary (indeed, members from Solaris go fusion)

Progression - Finland (outstanding jazzrock)

Arabiga - Spain (similar to Medina Azahara)

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