ELYDIAN

Hyacintus is not a band, but Argentinian talented multi-instrumentalist Jacinto Corral's nickname in the prog business. Hyacintus' style is typically symphonic, very much in tune with his academic musical leanings and performance skills. Lush orchestra-like keyboard layers, melodically oriented solos on guitar (mostly) and synth, and baroque passages are the most prominent features in 'Elydian', which is a concept album based on a story written by Theo Sperzeld (transcribed in the CD's booklet). The structure and mood of all tracks - or "Actos", as they are labeled on the CD's back cover - are entwined in order to convey the continuity of the events in Sperzeld's story. As a guitarist, Hyacintus' most notable influences seem to be Andrew Latimer (from Camel) as well as Mike Oldfield; as a keyboardist, Rick Wakeman is the most obvious reference. To a certain degree, Elydian could be described as Nude-meets-Return to the Center of the Earth. Most of the percussive sounds are programmed, but it should not lead the reader to thinking that the overall sound is 'cold' or 'techno-oriented': in fact, much of the prototypical melodic sensibility in South American prog is present here. This can be specially noticed on the softer numbers, such as the opening title track, "Marcha hacia Elydian", and "Dubiel", the latter being perhaps the most captivating. Another excellent track is "Prelude", where the classical guitar is featured in a most impressive way, a-la Anthony Phillips. The strongest tracks (4 and 12) are, in my opinion, the less successful, since they fail to properly convey their epic potential with the magnificiency required: maybe it's just a certain flaw in the production, since the compositions turn out to be well accomplished - in fact, the Beethovenish orchestral colours of 'Owerlag' are quite impressive. In general, this is a very good work of symph prog, and Hyacintus is certainly a writer/peerfomer to pay close attention to. His following effort 'Fantasia in Concerto' is another gem... but that's another story.