DELUSION RAIN

When Mystery returned with their sixth studio album, 'Delusion Rain', in 2015 it was with a brand new band with the only survivor from 2012's 'The World Is A Game' being Michel St-P're (electric & acoustic guitars, keyboards). Ex-Yes singer Beno't David had been replaced by Jean Pageau, Nick D'Virgilio (Spock's Beard, BBT) had passed the drum stool over to Jean-S'bastien Goyette while bassist Antoine Fafard (Spaced Out) had made room for Fran'ois Fournier. The band had also expanded to a second guitarist in Sylvain Moineau, and a keyboard player in Beno't Dupuis, who of course had been with the band back in the early days.

The difference between this and the more recent albums, was that the band were again a band, touring and playing live as opposed to Michel bringing together additional musicians to record, and it really shows. There is a continuity and huge sound that was somehow missing from before, with swathes of keyboards and guitars coming together with a strong fretted bass and wonderful vocals. Mystery have had a few singers over the years, but it is possible that in Pageau they have the perfect foil to the music, which has moved into a more symphonic mode that from the neo-prog they are often tagged with. The word that kept going through my mind while playing this was 'maturity', as here is a band that isn't rushing through the music but instead has put together solid arrangements that enthral the listener who just wants to keep playing this again and again.

Michel's guitar is as strident and powerful as ever, while everyone is relaxed and in the mode, coming together in a fashion that only ever really happens when a band have been touring successfully. 20 years ago, Michel was the first person in the world I ever had an email conversation with, moving on from the postal service. I can see I need to send him another, congratulating him on an amazing piece of work, which should be in every proghead's collection.