ANGEL'S PROMISE

Edhels their third CD entitled Still Dream is one of my favorite French prog albums, it sounds so unique and compelling. I was a bit disappointed about other albums Oriental Christmas (1985) and Astrological (1991), I missed the tension and captivating work on keyboards and guitar. Six years later Edhels delivered a new album, I remember that I was very curious to their development after so many years.

Well, Edhels still sounds original on this album, most of the 13 compositions are instrumental with a modern keyboard sound, strong drums and lots of fiery guitar play by Marc Ceccotti and Jean Louis Suzzoni. I am delighted about the tracks IQ 27 (a bit exotic percussion, biting guitar and strong vocals), Guinevere's Regrets (cynical female vocals, a strong beat and lots of interesting parts), Lights Being Messages (splendid guitar with howling runs like Hackett), Life, Life (beautiful duel acoustic guitarplay) and Gentle But Not Giant (Pandora's Box of percussion and keyboards). But in some other tracks the sound is a bit too smooth and Ceccotti tends to repeat himself. So in the end Edhels fails to keep my attention during the running time of more than 70 minutes, with less it could have been more. Nonetheless, this CD contains lots of interesting ideas and some exciting moments.