FOCUS Focus X (2012) CD

Dutch prog legends Focus have been bending time signatures since the early seventies, and Thijs van Leer's yodelling flute runs were confusing and thrilling people long before prog became a punchline or a badge of honour depending on who you ask.

Focus X is their 2012 comeback record, and it does exactly what you want from a band this deep in their own mythology: it doesn't apologise, doesn't modernise for the sake of it, and doesn't pretend "Hocus Pocus" didn't happen. This is intricate, exploratory progressive rock from a band that helped invent the template, with all the extended instrumental passages and genre-blurring that made them essential in the first place.

Full length album, CD format, released 2012. Netherlands.

Fans of: Steve Howe, Rush, Caravan, Gentle Giant, Gryphon