YESTERDAYS

Prog is fun - said Rick Wakeman in the seventies, but usually it is a bit too serious.

This new single by Yesterdays is a cover of The Flower Kings' My Cosmic Lover and the first mix of this song was released on the 4CD box set called "A Flower Full of Stars: a Tribute to The Flower Kings" in 2011.

I love the original version, it has a special vintage vibe to it, but Yesterdays took it even further back in time. This isn't an ordinary cover (a reproduction but in a modern way), they wanted to create something in swingin' sixties style so that the original TFK version would seem like a cover of the Yesterdays song. Clever move. They nailed it: sixties psychedelia, tuvan throat singing, sitar, 12 string chimey electric guitars, distorted vintage bass, Beatles-type vocals (and hidden Beatles references!). Then some baroque recorders are entering the game and a fast extra quote from the Flower Kings: the melody of In the Eyes of the World. After this the song goes even further back in time. Mellow bossa-nova style classical guitar enters with amazing flute playing and Karola Antal's beautiful voice turns the song into real magic. A parody, but with love and respect, in a perfect balance. It's a hit single!

If you want to have some fun and you like The Flower Kings, take a listen and step into Yesterdays' funky time-machine.

My Cosmic Lover? Yes, she's cosmic! Four smiling stars.

Saint-Exupéry álma, channels a softer Relayer era YES. Mostly the lighter Steve Howe Relayer guitar parts. Yesterdays references 72-76 YES energy. And I love it. The Romanian band sings in Hungarian. How prog is that?

Saint-Exupéry álma is the Little Prince tale, based on the book's author's plane crashing in the desert. True story. In fact he crashed an airplane twice. But that's another story.

Prog allusions abound. From Rush to Gentle Giant. That said, the music sounds fresh and totally original. I've been spinning this album for almost a year. Keep it in my car. And I love it. Adore the lead singer, Stéphanie Semeniuc. Her vocals shimmer and shine like spangles on wavy water.

Beefy, melodic bass lines. Exquisite guitar melodies. Sonorous, sharp, short keyboards tones crossover into Supertramp territory. Album is a grower. And isn't that the best kind? Top five all-time East-European masterpiece. My lone 2022 masterpiece rating.

Review #15

This year (2022) I have already heard many albums worth listening to. But that I may discover such a pearl at the end of the year really puts me in the greatest joy. "Yesterdays" is a talented progressive rock band from Hungary, which uses its home advantage and performs its music in the national language. This feature alone makes Yesterdays music something very special, as I personally have never heard prog in Hungarian and can directly attest that this beautiful language forms a dreamlike synthesis with the music. Stéphanie Semeniuc and Tarsoly Csenge with their warm, strong and variable voices are an important anchor in Yesterday's music, whether alone or in multi-layered harmony vocals. Speaking of the music, I'm happy to move on to the next highlight: the instrumentation. Mellotron, mini-Moog, flute, acoustic guitars, piano and additional percussion create a wonderful retro sound that revives the golden times of prog. This is an excellent melting pot that combines the lively and positive musical style of Yes with a jazzy, atmospheric and more experimental side of Camel. The band uses these reference bands to create their own sound, which can confidently be called a blueprint of 70s prog - carried by a very strong self-production (!) as well as a lot of passion and skill. What is special about "Yesterdays" is that, from a compositional point of view, there is a lot of room for the actual song progression, allowing melodies to develop, instrumental parts to unfold and atmospheres to build up. Songs like "Estekék" or the brilliant long track "Esötánc" are great examples of how versatile Yesterdays music sounds and works. Breathtaking. Captivating. Exciting.

The decisive factor for me is clearly that "Saint-Exupéry Álma" pulled me into its maelstrom from the very beginning and takes me back to my early days of prog passion, where every minute of prog music feels like fireworks in my ears. An incredibly strong album that reflects and bows to the core of classic prog in every way. A much too unknown masterpiece that I think every fan of the genre should know.

Saint-Exupéry álma, the 4th Yesterdays studio album. First I thought this will be an easy review to write, but the music asked for more attention to detail in the last few weeks from me.

Albums like these are making me very proud that Hungarian prog is still a thing. We know that SOLARIS will be back soon with their 3rd album in the Marsbéli kórnikák series, surely a fantastic new Hungarian offering, but until that one will arrive, Saint-Exupéry álma is in my TOP 3 albums of 2022 and not only because it's Hungarian :)

Just imagine a band with no financial background, recording, producing everything by themselves, in bedrooms, or at work, in a baroque castle and on a stage at the local theater. Mixing, artwork, everything was made by the band at home, yet this album is in the same league with the greats (who have keys to professional studios and engineers) with an audiophile, very dynamic sound, probably the best sound you've heard in the last few years from a prog band. Home production? Hats off,Yesterdays!

Song by song they bring something new and yet still something familiar. Okay, the YES influences are strong on this record, but that isn't the most precious thing about the album. Yes, it's a concept album, yes, the story is well known, but musically speaking this material is very interesting and new. Ákos Bogáti-Bokor is a great guitarist, I knew this from his previous work with SAMURAI OF PROG, PAIDARION, ARGOS, YACOBS and of course the previous Yesterdays albums, but now he is better than ever, right in your face! Yes, his style is similar to STEVE HOWE, but who can blame him? In 2022 everybody goes for a modern prog-metal, neo-prog direction. Liking HOWE's work it is almost out of style and there are not many players like Steve, so I am happy that Ákos is on his way bringing more music like this in the future.

Yesterdays has a fantastic lead singer, Stéphanie Semeniuc. I get it, Magenta comes to mind, they are the new classic in female led prog, but Stéphanie is something else. She comes from a jazzy direction giving songs like Estekék (Eveningblue... such a nice made-up word in Hungarian, yet it means so much...) more depth and color, also she has a much wider and powerful range, and thanks to the crazy rich backing vocals, the YES comparison is better. Chris Squire had his experience from singing in choirs, so does Ákos, Stéphanie and Csenge Tarsoly (backing vocals on the album) and this is where Yesterdays really shines.

Talking about CHRIS SQUIRE. Yesterdays currently has no bass player, so Ákos recorded the bass guitar parts. Turns out he is not only a HOWE fan, but he knows all the chops needed to sound like Mr. SQUIRE too. Another point in plus, great playing. In the first song Rajzolj át the middle part is a clear homage to CHRIS SQUIRE.

The 20 minute long epic, Esőtánc isn't even my favorite on this album, but it has some goosebumps moments. It must be hard to keep a 20 minute song interesting without prolonged instrumental parts, long guitar solos and Yesterdays nailed this. Nice syncopation, great drum-bass work, especially playing the S.O.S. signal, Morse-code rhythm in unison. So many details, nuances. This song is begging for listening to it in repeat.

And there are those beautiful Beatles-like moments, of Supertramp Wurlitzer piano parts in Ma minden érdekel with stellar vocal performance again. Flutes (Kecskeméti Gábor is fantastic!), percussion (Kósa Dávid), funny narration in French, symphonic parts, these make Yesterdays so much different from their biggest influence: YES... they can afford to be funny and more crazy, like in the solo part of this song which reminded me of THE FLOWER KINGS' great Stolt guitar moments. But using talk-box guitar sounds in prog is very unique (in Úgy várj majd rám - probably the best song on the album).

Another great musical moment is Engedj el... yeah, so much Genesis in it, but who cares? Yesterdays have that great sensibility of writing good songs, and if something brings back PHIL COLLINS' writing style from the DUKE era, I don't care, I am happy with it. Lush electric piano sounds, beautiful melody sung by Stéphanie again, the chorus is so catchy, I can't help myself singing along (good thing to be Hungarian). The middle part, where the pilot said goodbye to the Little Prince was sung by Ákos this time. Such a nice choice. Double tracked vocals with precision accompanied by beautiful crescendos thanks to the bass and the mellotron. The guitar solo is beyond the Howe influences. No blues-licks here - okay, that's like Howe - but more contemporary classical music style with a nice Soundchaser aftertaste. Loving it, and Zsigó László proves to be a fantastic drummer, I know him since the TABULA SMARAGDINA album "A szavakon túl" (another fine Hungarian album!).

I am very impressed by this album, the music keeps growing in me and thanks to the beautiful lyrics and great interpretation of Stéphanie the layers of the story are as one with the music. Definitely this is one of the top albums of 2022. Looking forward for more Yesterdays stuff in the future. More than four Hungarian stars, it is already an Eastern European classic.

After listening to their latest album lots of times, I had to revisit their 3rd album and got inspired to write a review about that album first. Senki madara was the 3rd album of Yesterdays, no thanks to financial and bureaucratic reasons they've released it on CDr. Fortunately the quality of the music, the sound, the production and the beautiful black vinyl record style disc and the matching booklet lets me skip this minor flaw.

I can deeply understand the hype around this release. This idea to turn back in time and "use" traditional/ancient Hungarian folk songs and building symphonic rock around them is simply fantastic. Hungarians had genius composers like Béla Bartók and Kodály Zoltán, who took their time walking from village to village collecting the rich heritage of traditional songs, saving them for the future, and they even took inspiration for their own works from these beautiful songs. Fast forward 100 years came Yesterdays with the Senki madara album.

Senki madara - Nobody's Bird... lots of virtuoso flute melodies are telling the story in the language of birds. This album is not an uplifting, happy one, reflecting to the hard times of Hungarians, the deep levels of these songs are giving this album a dark, serious and more heavy aftertaste, which I like very much.

Everybody is talking about YES influences, but Yesterdays is so much more than a copy-cat band. It's very original... lots of percussion instruments, fretless bass, heavenly flutes and yes, there are mountains of Mellotrons and analog synthesizers.

I'd say Senki madara is a symphonic rock - folk and jazzy fusion record. The opening track is very strong and colorful, probably my favorite track on the album. It has everything you can ask for on a symphonic prog album.

Rejtesetek el starts with acoustic guitar and flute, later bass guitar, cello and moog will set up for the JON ANDERSON-like la-la-la vocal part. Chamber music reminiscent of AFTER CRYING... a string quartet enters and duels with the flute. Such a great build-up, instant goosebumps moments when the hammond organ starts screaming in the background.

Szivárvány havasán is the only happy song on the CD, it's the most YES-like tune with WAKEMAN-esque synth melody, beautiful acoustic guitars and great-great vocal extravaganza. A true ear-worm.

Elmehetsz has all the symphonic prog beauty in it, this was the first single from the album with a very artistic music video. The steel guitar solo quotes Soon from the GATES OF DELIRIUM. And there are other little YES quotes hidden in the other songs showing their true influences. It's so obvious they love YES and also EAST.

Ne mondd el is the darkest song with the darkest lyrics sung by guest lead singer Szirtes Edina (from SOLARIS' latest live line-up). Haunting percussion, a drum solo and distorted fretless bass.

Hajnalcsillag sums up a few songs from the album by using three 4 voiced choirs singing in the same time different songs in a BIG harmony in the end, that's 12 voices on who knows how many choir members.

Szomjú madarak brings back that good old Hungarian flavored symphonic prog we know from EAST's first two albums (Játékok, Hűség). Fretless bass, flowing Minimoog solos all over and there's a powerful guitar solo in the vein of TREVOR RABIN near the end of the song. JETHRO TULL style flute playing. Lovely tune with a dreamy acoustic coda freaturing soprano guitar (octave guitar with e-bow).

Eső (Rain) is the shortest, yet most beautiful symphonic prog tune I've ever heard. It brought back TREVOR RABIN's Jacaranda album to mind with the slide resonator guitar sounds, but the synth solo is out of this world, so is Stéphanie Semeniuc's vocal performance.

Nap (Sun) is based on a children's song that they sing to invite the Sun back to the sky on a rainy day. And this song truly brings the sunlight back. So much energy in this one. So many colliding well thought out musical parts that are leading to a brutal/heavy ending... a distorted bass guitar solo with drums playing crazy time-signatures accompanied by swirling analog synths and choir mellotrons.

Úgy bocsáss el (Let me go like that) had to be on the album. This was a signature Yesterdays move, calming down the listener, saying goodbye with an acoustic tune. Acoustic guitar, beautiful flute and a string quartet... each verse is transposed a half step down. Genius compositional move. Chamber music á la AFTER CRYING from their first albums Overground Music.

Senki madara is an album worth all the hype and it's really an "Excellent addition to any prog rock music collection" with its 4 stars. I have only one suggestion for the band: a properly pressed reissue like their latest album or a vinyl with some bonus tracks. Highly recommended!

Saint-Exupéry álma (Saint-Exupéry's Dream) is Yesterdays' fourth studio album. I believe it's one of the best Hungarian progressive rock albums of the last few decades and one from my top 5 prog albums of 2022. It's the band's strongest and most powerful release.

As a Hungarian speaker I need to say this right away, the lyrics on this album are a real treat, beautiful poetry. So this is a big-big plus for Hungarian fans, but fortunately the beauty comes through the music also, thanks to Stéphanie Semeniuc's beautiful and expressive lead vocals.

It's safe to say that Yesterdays already has a unique sound despite the obvious Yes influences. Mellotrons, analog synths, vintage guitars, multiple vocal harmonies, good and long songs. Use these things and you get something similar to Yes or Genesis... add some flutes and female lead vocals with a special taste of Eastern European tradition and you get Yesterdays.

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's Le Petit Prince is a good starting point for a concept album, but putting this tale in the context of Exupéry's short stories, the desert plane crash took the idea to a deeper level.

The CD booklet has been put together in English, introduction and storyline for non Hungarian speaking fans, so you can associate the meaning of each song to its part in the whole concept.

Rajzolj át is a fantastic and powerful opening statement. Fragile era Yes feel thanks to the Bogáti-Bokor Ákos' Howe inspired guitar runs and bass playing. After the Relayer-style middle part there's a bass solo melody that reminded me of Chris Squire's Fish Out of Water album. The coda has a strong sixties vibe... and we find ourselves deep in the story. "Draw me a sheep!"

Úgy várj majd rám is the Little Prince's goodbye to his tiny planet and the rose. A catchy chorus and a powerful upbeat guitar riff and we're in the middle part, a dreamy soundtrack-type chapter that reminded me of Harmonium, a true delight when the Minimoog steps in. The third part of the song is representing one of the instrumental highlights on the album. A crazy, virtuoso Minimoog solo comes in screaming while - again - Squire- like bass is thundering in the low end. Amazing skills again. And there's a talk box guitar solo too.

Estekék is the darkest song on the album with a powerful unison riff (guitar, bass, Moog Taurus) and countless vocal harmonies. The riff is the same melody we heard in the Squire-tribute part in Rajzolj át (there played by a symphonic orchestra). The ending's haunting flute-acoustic guitar duo is the most sad and yet uplifting thing on the album.

The big epic is called Esőtánc (Raindance) and it's the origin story of the Little Prince through all the hallucinations of the author in those three thirsty days in the desert. Well crafted parts joined together masterfully. The main melody returns on Hammond, piano, Minimoog, a 5 part vocal fugue and on acoustic guitar. There are parts which reminded me of Heart if the Sunrise or Watcher of the Skies. Gentle Giant-like fughettas and mellotron tricks. This song needs more listening to catch all the nuances. Again, the lyrics are amazing good on this track.

After every epic there's a need for a more relaxed song to channel the emotions and tension. In Ma minden érdekel there's a light, catchy verse, a power-pop style chorus and a solo part that could be part on a Flower Kings album, Roine Stolt-style guitar solo, but I can hear a little bit of Dave Navarro in it as well.

The passing of the Little Prince is definitely about the tragic passing of the band's keyboard player, Enyedi Zsolt... a calm waltz on a piano accompanied by a symphonic orchestra and a flute solo. Such a beautiful piece of music, reminiscent of Locanda delle Fate. But while you are embraced by beauty and nostalgy, A méreg (the Venom) drastically changes the mood and presents the Little Prince's ambivalent feelings about death.

Engedj el (Release me) is my favorite moment on the album. Clear Genesis' Duke mood with Yamaha electric piano and Phil Collins' drum machine sound from Duchess. Such a perfect way to end a concept album like this. This is why I think Saint-Exupéry álma is one of the strongest Hungarian prog albums. Not only the beautiful melody and harmonies in rich second-chords make this sound special, but again, the lyrics are so beautiful, I wish the bands could include translations of these poems in the booklet.

Rajzolj újra át is the final and shortest song on the album, with The Beatles style chord voicings and mood, a gentle acoustic song with positive aftertaste to intentionally calm down the previous song's emotions.

I am happy that Yesterdays took the courage to make music about this concept. There's no doubt this will become a classic Hungarian prog album. Hungarian prog is still a thing, this warms my heart. Highly recommended, very enjoyable album with its four and a half shiny stars, not just for Hungarians.

Colours Caffé was YESTERDAYS' second album in 2010, a new musical pathway, moving away from the acoustic sounds of their debut "Holdfénykert" and implementing more electric sounds. When the pandemic happened in 2020, the band's keyboard player Enyedi Zsolt tragically has passed away. During the lockdown, Yesterdays guitarist Ákos Bogáti-Bokor took the opportunity to re-mix the whole album. The 2010 release was the band's very first self-produced product, a home-studio effort and they've told this lots of times since then that they weren't happy with the sound. I think it wasn't bad at all, KING'S X guitar player TY TABOR was the mastering engineer back then.

This new mix really has put this album to the right place. Everything sounds better, more balanced, especially the drums. So this re-mixing effort was really worth the extra work. In the new digisleeve cover the band dedicates this 10th Anniversary Edition to the loving memory of their beloved keyboard player Zsolt Enyedi.

Játék, the opening tune is like a YES song from the '80-s, nice moog sounds, SUPERTRAMP-like harpsichord passages and lots of mellotrons.

Forog a tánc features Hungary's most famous fusion drummer Gergő Borlai and jazz guitarist Tamás Mohai (from FAXNI and EAST). Such a dynamic song, catchy chorus, it's like Yesterdays' answer to YES' TEMPUS FUGIT.

Éjszaka is more neo-prog-ish with driving bass guitar melodies, haunting moog mellody, slide guitar and great singing from the new lead singer Linda Horváth.

Némafilm takes us back to Yesterdays' first album moods, no surprise here, it's the oldest song on the record, they've played this during the Moonlit Garden shows back in 2007. But with the new bass guitar player Zoltán Kolumbán there's a more edgy sound to the songs, reminiscent of Chris SQUIRE or Jonas REINGOLD (TFK). This epic song starts off as a SUPERTRAMP-like song from 1977 but the second part is what really shines. I love the voice of Karola Antal. This one is a pure symphonic prog gem and Mélyrepülés is a nice song to end this trilogy (The Némafilm Suite).

Bábu is the most fun track, it's the most retro sounding tune on the album, with a crazy moog sound, IAN ANDERSON-ish flute extravaganza, 5/8 rhythms mixed with 4/4 and 6/8. The middle section it's like a jazzy JETHRO TULL. One of my favorite songs on the album.

I can understand that hardcore proggers found this album a little bit too accessible, pop-music-like, but I am a sucker for well crafted songs and this new remix makes these songs even more powerful.

Zápor, the last song could be a song on MARILLION's Marbles album, very clear influences here, but with female vocals.

I am recommending this album for fans of NEAL MORSE (his popmusic-like works) and Marillion. Lyrics are in Hungarian this time so keep this in mind. Symphonic prog fans who are open to a new discovery can enjoy this album very much. 3.5 glowing prog stars for this album.

This band is inspired by the prog of the 70's, especially the symphonic prog of Yes mainly because of the Steve Howe style of guitar playing. But they have their own style singing in their own language and adding some jazzy parts. They also use plenty of flute passages. The songs are long in duration, allowing the music to display many moods that are not always working. I don't know if the problem was that the band was trying to create the melody with too many ideas, but the result is not as convincing as our favorite bands of the past. There are some more satisfying moments in the epic songs and at the end of the album. The keyboards and guitar playing is impressive, but not when the keyboard player use the same boring short keyboard part too many times throughout the album. For fans of Magenta, Glass Hammer, and Yes for the sound more than the music.3.5 sars

I discovered Yesterdays four years ago on Bandcamp and since then I dag deep into their musical catalog, so I was aware of Saint-Exupéry álma's arrival. I'd say this album is the storm after the calm. The previous album Senki madara was a beautiful, gentle release with cello, string quartet, guest singers singing traditional Hungarian folk songs with symphonic prog arrangements, but now we can witness a more powerful, more progressive side of the band and it is to my liking.

The story of The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry was a nice choice building a concept album around it. MIKE RUTHERFORD wanted to do it, GAZPACHO did something like this with it and now Yesterdays are here with their interpretation in the good old symhonic prog tradition.

For those who don't know Yesterdays yet, they are heavily inspired by YES, GENTLE GIANT and GENESIS, especially the guitars, vintage keyboards and the bass are sounding like the big prog guys. The main difference is in the female voice,the big choir-like backing vocals, and the flutes (no, not JETHRO TULL-like crazy, more like in Hungarian band SOLARIS). Lead singer Stephanie Semeniuc can sing anything from prog to more jazzy stuff with a clear, powerful voice and an impressive range and a unique timbre, so her presence gives a strong plus to the already great music.

Each long composition on this album has some kind of catchy ear-worm potential to it which is very important in keeping the attention of the listener alive, especially when the lyrics are in Hungarian and we can't understand a word. The booklet has a short explanation in English for each song, guiding the reader through the storyline. But of course the music speaks for itself. Personally I don't care too much about lyrics. Always liked Hungarian bands like AFTER CRYING, YOU AND I, EAST where the music was also very good.

I know that Akos Bogati-Bokor is obsessed with STEVE HOWE and YES in general, but I don't mind noticing these stylistic similarities. Yesterdays started an inside joke in 2006 (with their first album) that they are hiding the CLOSE TO THE EDGE melody a few times on each Yesterdays album. Later they got very vocal about this lovely tribute to YES. It took me a several days to notice the melody in "Ma minden érdekel". Can you spot it?

I found out from the booklet that Saint-Exupéry álma is an allegory of the loss of their keyboard player Zsolt Enyedi, who died in 2020. In "A méreg" they've used Eneydi's keyboard parts from an old demo and they've built a song around that theme, so we can hear his playing one last time on a Yesterdays album. The allegory is even more obvious: this song is about the passing of the Little Prince...

A 73 minute concept album is never an easy-listening experience, but this album grabs your attention from the start. Each song has something new to say musically, but there are a few musical themes that are present in each composition, just like it should in a case like this.

Even with the obvious YES and GENESIS influences I can't say that Yesterdays is not original. The music has a special Eastern European feel to it which I like very much.

The packaging, the booklet, the photos are very nicely done and in harmony with the music's concept, beautifully done!

Saint-Exupéry álma is a nice addition to any symphonic prog fan's collection with an excellent audiophile sound (they are promoters of the anti loudness war for years now). It should be played loud though. Warmly recommended concept album, one of my favorite albums of 2022.

A pleasant trip down memory lane with tons of well known sounds, well crafted compositions and beautiful female vocals, this is the new Yesterdays album Saint-Exupéry álma.

The concept of Le Petit Prince is a longtime prog favorite, MIKE RUTHERFORD wanted to compose a concept album on this topic instead/before of THE LAMB LIES DOWN ON BROADWAY. Fast forward four decades, here's a Hungarian band making their mark in symphonic prog land with a full CD length concept album in the good old progrock tradition: with tons of MELLOTRONS, with a vintage sound that will remind you to YES and GENESIS immediately.

As a sucker for prog with female voice I started to be aware of Stéphanie Semeniuc's amazing vocal range with the previous Yesterdays album Senki madara. Now she is really showing off her skills on this album, helped by backing vocalist Tarsoly Csenge and Bogáti-Bokor Ákos by using multiple layers of vocals, a la PINK FLOYD, YES, QUEEN and even JELLYFISH.

Lyrics are in Hungarian, which is a good thing, I like these sonic adventures in different cultures, plus I got tired of the fact that almost every non-English band uses English for prog. Remember? Italian, Spanish, French, Belgian, German, Romanian, Hungarian, even made up languages were a thing in the seventies? And it was great! I'd bring back other languages into the genre... Hungarian prog is alive and Yesterdays represents a nice continuity after EAST, SOLARIS, AFTER CRYING, YOU AND I, who were using (mostly) their native language on their records.

Saint-Exupéry's Dream starts off with a powerful YES-like riff with the first chapter called Rajzolj át. Guitars in the style of STEVE HOWE (especially the first solo) with a wide stereo effect (exactly like on ROUNDABOUT) and I think it's definitely intentional. The ending is like a part from a never written YES tune. Seriously!

Úgy Várj Majd Rám is a symphonic prog gem. Well crafted melody, a catchy driving chorus, symphonic middle part with some Italian taste and the second part is a progrock instrumental highlight... moog, bass and talkbox guitar solo. My favorite moment on the album.

Esőtánc and Ma Minden Érdekel are linked with a musical theme and together are more than 30 minutes long. The first one is a very intense prog epic with very strong moments. Can't avoid mentioning GENTLE GIANT and GENESIS here, those sounds are very obvious. The chapters of the composition are well crafted songs on their own, they could easily use them as radio edits, the one around the 8th minute is so catchy! A nice example of a well crafted epic with a nice climax. Essential!

The next two moments (a solo piano piece with symphonic arrangements and flute solo) and a song with heavy drums and synth pads are the band's tribute to Enyedi Zsolt, YeDi, the band's keyboard player who sadly passed away in 2020, They have used his synth chords from a previous demo and built a song around it, so he can be present on this new albums too. A heartfelt gesture as allegory of the Little Prince's death/passing. Such a beautiful and heartbreaking moment.

Engedj El (Release Me) is the perfect ending of a nearly perfect album. GENESIS style sounds from the DUKE era are obvious: Yamaha CP, drum machine loop (from DUCHESS), little hints showing their influences. In the middle part there's a HOWE-ish guitar solo followed by a GILMOUR-ish solo (with fantastic backing vocals in the background). A symphonic prog delight.

I had a fantastic time with this album in the last few days. A very strong release, probably the best Yesterdays album so far, so I am already curious about their next one. But until that comes, this one will have lots of spins in my player. A true 4 star album, one of 2022's best albums for me.