NEITHER IN HEAVEN

After a promising debut, the band is back with his second album. There is no less than four keyboards musicians and that should give you a idea to what to expect in the overall sound of the music. The presence of the keyboards with some nice melody lines is what we have after the intro song. The melody is building slowly with multi-part vocals. The tempo get faster with the guitar of Michel St-Père of Mystery matching the keyboards at the end. In the song "Insane", the bass has the opportunity to shine with a keyboard solo. "The Man on the Hill" is heavy and sound like a copy of Arena style, the sound of the vocals are very close to Paul Manzini. The guitar is very busy here. In "Memories", the melody is carried by the keyboards again that are shining before a David Gilmour's guitar passage at the end. The album end with another take on the Arena's epic type of song that starts like a ballad but continue with some big symphonic parts. Those who enjoy the Neo Prog bands with a heavy edge and lot of progressive stuff will have to check this one out. The album sounds heavier than the first one and the production is clear which makes this more enjoyable to listen. Only the strait forward song "Red Gypsy" doesn't have the same quality of the rest of the album,

Heavy Neo Prog from a group of French Canadian prog veterans. Great sound engineering of wonderful Neo Prog soundscapes. A lot of ballad-like formats but, otherwise, nothing new here.

1. Neither In Heaven (2:40) 2. "Synesthesia" (13:09) nice climax/final two minutes. (21/25)

3. "Insane" (5:47) a hard-rocking instrumental that shows off a lot of the individual band members' skills but offers nothing really new or exciting. (7.25/10)

4. "Even Angels Sometimes Fall" (5:28) pretty with an AMBROSIA ballad feel to it. (8.75/10)

5. "Entering The Gallery" (3:41) bombastic opening before things calm down for Sylvain's vocal. Supported by piano and Michel St.-Père (MYSTERY)'s very bluesy-slide guitar. (7.75/10) Bleeds directly into:

6. "The Man On The Hill" (7:44) heavy, angular melodic and chord progressions set up a quiet section in which Sylvain Dexcôteaux sings in a power metal voice like he's in a 1980s metal band. Even the ensuing instrumental support is so 1980s metal (reminding me most of Hagar-era VAN HALEN)! (12/15)

7. "The Red Gypsy" (6:25) intro of Spanish guitar supported by synth washes is joined by piano and vocal before the end of the first minute. Full band joins in around 1:20, giving it a kind of mysterious pop feel (think The Eagles). Then synth and guitars lead in a gear shift into more classic 1980s hairband rock territory (Van Halen et al.). (7.75/10)

8. "Memories" (8:43) very touching first 2:20. Once fullness of music is engaged the band successfully maintains the feeling and emotional spectrum of the opening. Absolutely perfect use of Mellotron in the choruses. Masterful electric guitar soloing in the seventh minute (should we expect less?) (18/20) 9. I Held (3:35)

10. "Nor On Earth" (11:41) sounds like a good STEVEN WILSON/PORCUPINE TREE song ("Dark Matter"). Really! Very nice composition with perfect sound engineering. A little too derivative, though. And then there is the weird ending and spacious gap before two minute piano outro. (18/20)

Total time 68:53

B-/3.5 stars; an album worth checking out for yourselves.

Huis - this canadian/dutch neo/symphonic prog band is present with a second offer Neither in heaven, issued at canadian label Digital unicorn in april 2016. Well, what we have here is a good towards great neo prog album with hints of symphonic prog all done in a beautiful and elegant manner. I was hooked from first listen, at same level with previous album and in places even better, and aswell little more edgy in parts, but with all that the guitar parts are excellent overall. Very nice and elegant duels between musicians, I think the forte track is Synesthesia - this is impressive, really tight musicianship, excellent ideas, every musician involved here is sure what is doing and done very well in the end - the guitar parts from the end of the tune are marvelous, remind me here and there with another canadian neo band Red Sand or with norwegians The Windmill, very well performed passages, no wonder that Michel St-Père is a teacher on guitar. and worth 5 stars alone this track. Also two instrumental pieces grace the release, Insane and I held. Insane featuring keybordist Gerben Klazinga from dutch neo prog band Knight Area, very nice tune. I also find the bass little in front then previous album, but is a good thing, everything is done with taste and in elegant manner. As I said the music overall is well crafted , with lots of keyboards and guitars aswell maybe in some parts they remind me of Mystery because of St-Pere guitar touch but with hints of aformentioned bands above. Anyway strong compostions under neo/symphonic prog flavour. The art work and overall package is great to, digipak format. So, from me 4 stars, definatly one of the better albums of this year. I like this band and for sure I will check their next releases.

Huis is a band project assembled by Michel St. Pere, the man behind the heavy neo-prog band Mystery, and "Neither in Heaven" is the band's second album. As with Mystery, Huis on this album follow the course of a heavy prog band with lots of synthesizer solos and abundant use of a heavy guitar sound. Similarities between Huis and Mystery might be easy to come by, and I wondered why St. Pere would want to run two bands of similar style at the same time. However, I haven't heard the latest Mystery album so I can't say if that band has changed at all.

There are several points worthy of mention regarding this album. First, I have to mention singer Sylvain Descoteaux who also handles piano and keyboards, one of four members in the band to have his hands on the keys! Sylvain can sing with a voice that agilely slides up to higher registers for Gillan-like howls and screams as in "Synesthesia" and "The Man on the Hill" but delivers melody and more soothing notes when required. You might soon clue into his French- Canadian accent, though this only adds charm to the vocals in my opinion.

Although many songs feature a heavier guitar with riffs that rival Arena, the album includes plenty of lighter passages either nestled within songs like "Synesthesia" or making up the bulk of the song in "Memories". I especially enjoy some of the piano with the final piano instrumental concluding the album being a favourite. "The Red Gypsy" begins with some lovely acoustic guitar and "Entering the Gallery" is a tease with a light and beautiful piano introduction that soon gives way to the heavier side of Huis. Three instrumental tracks "Neither in Heaven", "Insane" and "I Held" give the band opportunity to show off their instrumental skills free of the burden of lyrics.

This is an album written and performed by seasoned musicians, and I often find myself marveling at the perfection that has gone into the creation and recording of the songs. Still, depending on my mood, I may also feel the denser atmosphere of the heavier parts is not the best way to present the music of the album or that the same audio density is detracting from the lighter, prettier music. In general though, It's difficult to find fault with this album and at times during the day, the music may begin playing freely in my head. Worthy of four stars for certain.

'Neither In Heaven' was the second album from Canadian band Huis, following on from 2014's 'Despite Guardian Angels'. That was released as quintet, but in the intervening time keyboard player Pascal Lapierre departed, so for this album the guys brought in four different keyboard players to help out. The rest of the line-up is the same, namely Sylvain Descôteaux (vocals, keyboards, piano, vocal arrangements), Michel St-Père (guitar, keyboards, mixing), Michel Joncas (bass, bass pedals, keyboards, backing vocals) and William Régnier (drums, percussion, keyboards and acoustic guitar). I really enjoyed the debut album, but this album unfortunately arrived for review while I was stuck in the bowels of compiling my books, so was relegated to the "will review later" pile. That pile is still way too big, but the arrival of a new album in 2019 provided the requisite kick I needed, so finally I am writing about it some three years after I first got it. Boy have I been missing out.

I have long been a fan of Michel's guitar playing, first coming across Mystery more than 20 years ago, and following their career with interest ever since. Here he does allow himself to riff when the time is right, but never to the detriment to the music, and it is the combination of lush and sumptuous arrangements and wonderful melodies that makes this a very special album indeed. Symphonic neo prog with real balls and no wimping out, but generally carried along on a wave of held-down keyboard chords, some real in your face bass (with some wonderful diverse techniques, I could listen to a track of just isolated Michel Joncas for hours), string drums, real guitars and then at the forefront of this we have the wonderful vocals of Sylvain.

This is prog as a comfort blanket, cuddly and warming, keeping the listener safe from the rest of the world. But just when there is the faint possibility of it turning into something twee with too much sugar then Michel just opens up again to remind us that whatever style of music they are playing, at heart they are a rock band. Just listen to the instrumental "Insane" to get an idea of what I mean, only 5 ½ minutes long it is a fine example of control, passion, restraint and bombast, and then they follow it up with the far more delicate "Even Angels Sometimes Fall" which allows Sylvain to show us just what he can do, yet also contains some simply superb drum fills. There are times when I am reminded of mid-Seventies Genesis, particularly with the keyboards, and the result is a very special album indeed which is well worth investigating.