ATRIA

These vocals are not really the best aspect of Atria but they are acceptable for me. Also the instrumental handling is ok and better than the vocals but the strongest asset of this typical nineties outfit is the quality of the compositions. Extended instrumental passages is their trademark and I love them big time. Especially the epic Learning to Fly appeals extremely much to me but also the opener Lies shows big promise for the rest of the album.

The other tracks are very good as well so it's too hard for me to let the flaws be the dominant ingrediants for the rating. Atria's Hide is just about how I like my neo prog best. And that's what I will let prevail. I can give no less than four stars here, though rounded up (3,75). Maybe it's not quite there as "excellent addition to ANY prog rock collection" but it's certainly better than "good but non-essential" so I will conclude with the following statement:

(Highly) recommended for the real neo fans !

This French band, that's Atria and not Pendragon, has so far released two albums. Hide is the last one, but I hope they may release some more albums. Anyway, Hide is the subject of this review.

Firstly, I thought I had left a Pendragon album, their mid period around Masquerade, on the CD player by accident. The vocals is so Pendragon. The sound is very Pendragon too. Atria is almost a perfect copycat of Pendragon from A to Z.

........But midway through the album, some very strong Saga vibes aka mid 1980s comes sneaking in. The fifteen minutes long epic Learning to Fly has some instrumental parts which is very similar to the Gilmour brothers in Saga.

After a couple of more spins of this album, I conclude that Atria on Hide is a mix of Pendragon and Saga with some own personality included. The music itself is pleasant. The above mentioned epic Learning to Fly is the best song on this album by a mile. I am a Saga fan and that may explain my fondness for this song. The rest of the album is pretty good too. It is a bit anonymous at places. But it is still a rather good Neo-Prog album which should win this band new friends.

3 stars

I hope Atria are still alive, btw.

The main drawback was the production. It is obvious that this kind of music needs a good and balanced recording and although it was not really crap, the production could be a LOT better. You can tell the band is good, the songwriting is strong (although there is nothing new in the field), the arrangements are tasteful and the playing is superb. Only Jean Michel Paci´s vocals are a bit annoying. The guy is not bad, but certainly the sound would benefit a lot if they had a truly strong singer. But again I´m not sure if the guy is just inexperienced and/or the production hides his potential.

If pass those problems, like I did, I found Boulevard Of Broken Dreams to be a very good CD. There are no fillers and the second half of the album is where lies the strongest cuts, powerful and convincing with some great guitar solos and fine keyboards passages. Only the flat production keeps me from giving this CD a four star rating. Still, if you´re into neo prog you should not miss this one. Recommended