PHYLTER

One of the rarest of 1970s prog bands, little is known of the band PHYLTER except that this band formed in the beautiful city of Brugge, Belgium, recorded and released this sole self-titled album in 1978 and then pretty much vanished into the ethers. This band featured the members of Patrick Philips (organ, fender rhodes piano, acoustic piano, Eko-piano, strings, synthesizer, vocals) , Marc Van Bortel (lead guitar, vocals) , Paul Van Bortel (bass, vocals) and Christian Zaman (drums) with guest musicians Jean-Marie Aerts (rhythm guitar) and Rens Van der Zalm (violin).

The band's only release was a concept album that told the story about sailors who escaped a major storm by hiding out in a cave on an uninhabited island, the view of which is highlighted by the nice fantasy album cover art. The new world where they temporarily take refuge is the subject matter for the album's six tracks which ran the standard album's length of just over 43 minutes. The album featured somewhat standard track lengths with the closing "Down And Mood For Change" sprawling past the 15-minute mark.

Considered to exist in the symphonic prog camp, PHYLTER was just as comfortable floating in space rock terrain. The musical compositions were highly melodic and references to the timeline when symphonic prog was morphing into the pop hook infused neo-prog seems fitting due to the fact that PHYLTER delivered extremely well crafted melodies that forged instant hooks. The music was light and breezy and never really rocked out in excess but heavier passages are heard for much needed contrast. The gist of PHYLTER was multi-layered keyboard parts that featured an organ, Fender Rhodes piano, acoustic piano and a synthesizer.

The Van Bortel brother provided catchy bass and guitar hooks that prognosticated the likes of modern neo-prog bands like Arena, IQ and Pendragon with clear references to Pink Floyd but existing in a vacuous sector of space time all its own. The occasional violin adds a folk flavor as well. References to Camel or 70s Genesis are well-founded as PHYLTER existed in the same symphonic prog paradigm but like many of these rare bands sort of found its own way from the very beginning and doesn't really sound like any other band i've personally experienced.

The tracks are well varied with an emphasis on instantly lovable melodies but occasional attacks of virtuosity also find their way into the mix with my favorite coming in the middle of "Consideration." The grande finale is the 15-minute "Down And Mood For Change" which provides the greatest diversity of sounds and styles on the album. Starting out with a slow building organ lead, the track ushers in that now famous neo-prog guitar sweep before jumping into some Yes inspired vocal harmonies before jumping into some heavier rock guitar riffs. Once again the keyboards provide a brilliant contrapuntal effect to the guitar, bass and drums. The lead vocalist may not be a Jon Anderson but is pleasant enough. Nice key soloing follows. The musical motif changes keep things interesting with a recurring rock guitar heft.

Overall this is a much better album than i was expecting from the low ratings. True it may be a bit on the cheesy side due to the incessantly slick melodic hooks but if you fancy crossover symphonic prog, neo-prog and funk fueled guitar hooks then you will love this. This album has been amongst the rarest of the rare with the original vinyl on Parsifal records still highly sought after but luckily this album has found a remastered CD reissue on t he French Spalax label with unfortunately no bonus tracks. This is mostly a sleepy contemplative album which when taken in the context of a bunch of exhausted sailors who managed to find shelter during an enervating storm survival protocol, it sounds even better. Personally i find this to be quite an interesting rarity that holds up beyond the initial wow factor.