The Healing Road - Timanfaya

(CD 2008, 50:33, Musea FGBG 4805)

The tracks:
  1- Devil's Garden(4:32)
  2- The Green Caves(5:08)
  3- Crashing Waves(4:27)
  4- Crater Camels(5:43)
  5- Absynthe(3:12)
  6- Fire Mountains(9:37)
  7- Mirador(5:06)
  8- Blackbeach(3:33)
  9- Observe And Learn(9:12)

The Healing Road Website        samples        Musea Records


The Healing Road is a musical project of the German keyboard player and drummer Hanspeter Hess who invited several musicians for the three solo albums he released between 2006 and 2008: The Healing Road, Timanfaya and Tales From The Dam. The project’s name has been derived from the book of Rush-drummer Neil Peart: Ghost Rider Travels On The Healing Road.

On his instrumental second album Timanfaya, we can enjoy nine varied and very tastefully arranged compositions that range from spacey, electronic oriented and mellow with sensitive electric guitar or grand piano, to bombastic with powerful Hammond organ and spectacular synthesizer flights or protrusive rhythms with fiery guitar and dynamic drums. I cannot trace any weak track on this album, but I would like to mention my highlights. The great opener Devil’s Garden has an exciting atmosphere with a fluent rhythm, sensational keyboard work and strong interplay between guitar and keyboards. In the alternating track Crashing Waves, we hear the sound of Indian tablas and Fender Rhodes electric piano along subtle guitar. Crater Camels has a swinging piano, a slow synthesizer solo and varied guitar work from a Floydian solo to a biting wah-wah sound. The captivating and long songs Observe And Learn and Fire Mountains contain lots of dynamics, keyboard pyrotechnics and exciting shifting moods. This really is prog heaven!

I’m not familiar with Hanspeter’s other two solo albums, but if they are just as good as this one, The Healing Road is an excellent new German prog rock band to discover!

**** Erik Neuteboom (edited by Peter Willemsen)

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