Search - Clepsydra :: Hologram

A Great Debut

Mr D. | Cave Creek, Az United States | 04/08/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Clepsydra



Clepsydra labors in virtual obscurity in the Italian Alps of Switzerland. They have recorded four brilliant albums which are, in chronological order Hologram (1991), More Grains of Sand (1994), Fear (1997) and Alone (2001).



Clepsydra's music falls in the neo progressive rock vein along with bands like Genesis, Marillion, King Crimson, Iluvatar, Mostly Autumn, Pendragon and many, many other great timeless artists. The songs are sung in English and their singer, Alu Maggini has a wonderful, relatively high pitched, emotive vox. What is it with Neo Prog Rock bands that they all have high pitched, comparable sounding vocalists? Anyway Clepsydra projects a similar sound to their English contemporaries and in my opinion they out English the English bands.



One of the things I really like about Neo Progressive Rock is that, even in this era, they have not forgotten the power or an organ or a piano or now days a synthesizer. It is a powerful musical weapon and Clepsydra keyboardist Philip Hubert seems to be aware of that. Hubert is a master at emphasizing great keyboard melodies that are a big part of Clepsydra's repertoire.



Another strength of Clepsydra, not that they have weaknesses, is their songwriting which is sublime. It really is amazing how pleasant Clepsydra is to listen to. They are a basic five man band but their sound is mighty and each band member is a master musician. As Neo Progressive Rock goes they are at the pinnacle for clever catchy songs just full of hooks and great lyrics.

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