ORION

This album is the only album from a dutch band to be released on the Vertigo "Swirl" label. It is also the only album Panthéon ever released. Panthéon made music similar to Focus and Solution. Jazzy, canterbury like progressive rock. They started as a fivepiece highschoolband and won a recording session at a national talent scout festival. The recorded single gave them attention and this paved the way to record an album.

The album opens with Daybreak, which resembles Focus' House Of The King a bit. The melody is played by the flute and it has a guitar solo in the middle. There are also some wordless vocals like Thijs van Leer could have done. Anaïs also reminds me of a softer song by Focus, again the song is driven by flute and guitar. It is a very peaceful track. With Apocalyps the sound changes more to the Solution direction. The main instruments are saxophone and organ, although the flute appears on this one also. This is a very sunny and jazzy track. The Madman is a funny short warm-up piece that leads to the highlight of the album, Orion. In this track both the Focus and the Solution side come together. It contains great melodies. I mention Focus and Solution a lot in this review, but that doesn't mean that Panthéon are just copy cats. They have an unique sound of their own, it is just to point out in which corner of the proglandscape Panthéon can be found.

The cd contains three bonus tracks, who were released as singles in 1972. Anaïs is an edit of the album track and Masturbation (at the time released as Master Basion because of the suggestive title) and I Want To Know would later be incorporated in Orion. This is a must for everyone who enjoys a good portion of instrumental prog.