SKRYVANIA

Sadly, the rating system doesn't admit the possibility to add another half star. SKRYVANIA was a very young band from France that, in the late seventies, produced their only homonymous album. These boys, evidently, admired the big prog monsters GENESIS and YES, and this fact was expressed in their music.

"Skryvania" has the classic symphonic rock sound with energetic, complex and changing melodies keeping the beauty sense. Despite the members youthness, they demonstrate that they were very good musicians (the guitar player job, specially, is superb), achieving a fresh sound -GENESIS and YES influences are strong, but nobody could say that SKRYVANIA is a sort of clone-.

The album includes as bonus tracks some short excerpts from YES' "Topographic Oceans" and "Close to the Edge", and from GENESIS' "The Lamb" (I guess some kind of homage), and the highlight is the magnificent first track, "Tristan & Iseult": From the first chords, you'll know you'll enjoy the whole stuff.

The only weak point I found is the record quality: isn't the best, but despite this detail, "Skryvania" is a very recommended true symphonic rock album.