Our southern neighbours from Belgium have produced a lot of good prog bands in the past and still do, but nowadays many projects lean towards the metal side in my opinion. Of course, that applies to many countries because the supply of prog metal is almost endless. One of those bands that impressed me in the nineties and at the beginning of this century was Ken's Novel and the project Phonya was founded by two former members of that band. Eric Vanderbemden (all guitars, keyboards and bass) and Bernard Piette (keyboards) have started a new band with the help of Gautier Delco (keyboards and bass) and they make instrumental music with many keyboards and a lot of guitar parts. Coincidentally, I just finished my review of the album Beyond Cosmic Infinity (2025, see review) by Flame Drop and after listening to Heli1025. I can safely conclude that the music of these two projects is quite similar to each other. Here too, long and shorter tracks follow each other and it is clear that these Belgians can handle their instruments very well. Assigning a concept to an instrumental album is not easy and in the case of Heli1025 it is the discovery of an old radio in an attic that is still working well after all these years. In the days when there were no, or few, images, listeners of music via the radio had to create their own images and that is also the intention of this album. When making music without vocals, a lot is demanded of the inventiveness of the musicians and variety is a very important requirement because boredom is lurking, especially with me. The supplied info clearly speaks of a side A and a side B and we see that more and more often. The craving for nostalgia is growing and the vinyl era is glorified. I have had a lot of records and have also worked in hi-fi for years but have never heard, let alone experienced, the benefits of vinyl. Anyway, nice that many listeners have something with it. Well, side A opens with the long Evolution and that is immediately one of the better songs with great guitar playing by Vanderbemden and where Ken's Novel sometimes showed some atypical melodies, that is not the case now, at least not in this song. Lots of keys and guitar solos and sound effects on top of that, sounds quite pleasant. In the following songs we occasionally encounter those stranger melody lines. Electronic rhythms often form the basis and although it all sounds fine, boredom strikes me. Fans of Tangerine Dream, for example, at the time of Le Parcs (1985 ) and Underwater Sunlight (1986), may be a bit more enthusiastic. It ripples along a bit too much for me without any real outliers and the songs are somewhat interchangeable. Maybe side B can wake me up again and with the long Lunar Sun that works out quite well because the guitar can go all out in this song, or rather, Eric can. Great listening music for relaxation because it never gets really heavy and the many keyboard parts are mainly supportive. I don't really hear any real swirling keyboard solos. The Infinite Game consists of two parts that together go just over the fourteen minute mark and form the end of the album. A very calm and ethereal beginning with thin keyboard sounds gives way to a more rhythmic piece with vintage keyboard sounds but after about five minutes, part two, we even get a nice spicy piece of guitar playing and that is very nicely done. I would have liked this to happen a little more often and this is where the opportunity for further development lies. Some similarity with Pyramaxx is obvious and that makes this the best and most interesting track for me. For those who, like me, are more focused on music with vocals, it is often difficult to stay captivated for an entire album. Phonya has only partly succeeded in this but Heli1025 certainly isn't a bad or completely boring album. I urge those of you who like aforementioned artists or albums to give this album a try, it might surprise you. ***- Erik Fraanje (edited by Tracy van Os van den Abeelen) Where to buy? |
