Miriodor – 3rd Warning

Miriodor

3rd Warning (1991)

http://www.mediafire.com/?nmwkfw01etc

I read a review that described this French Canadian band as being something like “Univers Zero in a good mood” and I think the comparison is somewhat accurate. They’re clearly taking a lot of inspiration from the classic RIO bands but unlike a lot of RIO, there are actually some very bright, pretty and catchy songs here. Particularly in the saxophone on tracks like “Solace”, “Viking” and “Trans-Siberian”, it’s about as catchy as ‘avant-prog’ gets. I love this album (and all of Miriodor’s output) because it’s so easy to listen to. The songs are all concisely written with no filler, the musicians are highly skilled at their instruments but there’s no boring and uninspired soloing bogging it down. I’d probably choose this album (Miriodor’s third) as their best work so far, as Miriodor prove themselves to be one of the (very few) greats of Canadian prog – I’d say one of the high points of prog as a whole.