AFTER THE BATTLE

I got the After The Battle CD because I heard some nice things about this dutch band. It seems they were one of the first "neo prog" bands ever, that never officially recorded anything during their time and got back in the early 2000s with this album featuring both new and old material. I really had never heard of them until very recently, but being from Holland meant the strong possibility of high quality material. And I was not disappointed. The album shows a very tight band producing what we may call "classic" neo prog music that has an undeniable early 80´s flavor on it.

After The Battle has a little over an hour of excellent prog music that takes more than one or two spins to really figure out what they´re all about. The songs remind me a lot of british bands of that period like Abel Ganz, Twelfth Night, IQ or Pallas. Not as symphonic or readily accessible as Marillion or Pendragon, but very good anyway. So you get nice keyboards/guitar interplay, a dramatic singer (Kees Bik has a fine voice) and a brilliant rhythm section. The songs are all very good, with a evenly flow throughout the whole CD., There are several highlights, but if you want something really special I guess the 9 minute The Hunchback is probably the best of them. This symphonic piece of music (with obvious early Genesis overtones) has all the elements that make me love this kind of music: melodic, varied, emotional and full of great variations without missing the basic elements that binds it all together in one fine prog gem.

The production is only adequate, but it adds to the charming "old style" of their compositions in a way. The performances are impeccable and the high quality of the songwriting makes the listening of this CD a highly enjoyable experience. Nothing new or groundbreaking, of course, but very good in what they do. According to my friend and writer Erik Neuteboom the band has recently got back together, playing live and recording a new album due to be out soon. I´m really looking forward to listen to it!

Conclusion: if you like the 80´s neo prog scene you can´t miss this one! And if you like good prog music in general you should give it a try. A very nice finding. 4 stars.