ALTER EGO

JOOST MAGLEV is multi-instrumentalist, though; he has released three albums since 2012, in a somewhat unclassifiable genre, a genre melting pot of genres that have swept the last decades. It's inside of pop, a little variety, FM radio, symphonic, full of hard and derivatives prog there! At the musicians level, looking a little more closely, we find BOGERT KNIGHT AREA (a group largely unknown in my opinion!), CRAVEN BEN CRAVEN "himself", RENAISSANCE voice in the person of Haslam, the framing EQUISA with the "brothers" and HONING MAAS and finally the participation of Arjen LUCASSEN, giving some weight, finally even the heavy muscles to drive!

In purely musical level, there is more to my sense of sounds from bands like ABBA, ALAN PARSONS PROJECT, ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA, AYREON on certain securities, KANSAS for voice and musical flights, some of THIS WINTER MACHINE and aND YOU WILL KNOW US BY tHE TRAIL oF DEAD for atmosphere multi-prog and prog- crucible that these two groups can bring; finally, some STYX also and especially beautiful music keys from the convoluted universe and / or crazy QUEEN !! I do not hide that QUEEN is and will remain my group from my early youth, when criticism is going to be tough!

From "Lucid" and a capella intro harp, I feel the excitement of the old albums that say to what planet we will leave! "ANGEL" rout directly with its synth "Bontempi" very rhythmic and a different voice, is in the tradition of a good app, a YES 80's and higher in song and a riff on the BLUES BROTHERS of ELP just bring trouble to the divine guitar solo, it starts well! "Corpus Christi" with even the APP in rhythm well frenzied musical, then a jump with his RUSH for with this title in two stages and this cut to 6'30 '' making you believe a problem K7 stuck, then a final crescendo with synths, percussion, a big sound enjoyable! "Ever After" share a baroque nursery rhyme, a ballad quickly disrupted by the angelic voice of Annie, which casts doubt on the orientation of the title, but a soaring violins and guitar Arjen off are our hope toward a final bombastic beautiful, it sinks a little 'AYREON there. "Judith Episode II" and sound effects intro brings us again to a title ayreonien with choirs snatches! If you close your eyes, you might see scroll lot of more or less ancient groups in your head with QUEEN reminiscent of the background and the magical guitar B. MAY; everything is in order for us to capsize. "Alter Ego" drives the point starting on "Seaside Rendezvous" or "The Millionaire Waltz", it is the baroque QUEEN has honored the prog movement at a time when it began to decline;

"Burning Girl" and syncopated riff hard, her voice back, his hot male choirs allows wake of the incursion in "A Night at the Opera" is heavy, nervous riff does not leave indifferent then digression prog comes with pure crystalline notes, nowhere outputs therefore even more beautiful and a battery of a blow this; return the original chorus a time before returning to a final evolution worthy of a final SciFi film, a gem! Perhaps the most prog composition worked for quite a few years! "DEMON" with its basic piano entry gives a little peace; at times I happened to hear the voice of T.

Yes, I must say, I loved this album, I took the taste to engage the Replay button, I tried to find fault, I tried to dissect the groups he could have listen before, I also read that he was overworked and that it was helped by solid sidekicks listed in the chronicle of the beginning, but you'll understand that I'm not out unscathed! But that this recording bathes symphonic, progressive, forward-thinking, and I pride for once my top note should give you the chip in the ear of the composer.