The number of albums in my collection that aren’t sung in English or my native language Dutch can be counted on the fingers of one hand. I’m not biased, but lets face it; singing in your native language could be a impediment if you’re aiming for international success, even if the language in question is French. Nemo is a French progressive rock band that is definitely up for the challenge. In almost every single music magazine or forum you can read discussions about the need for originality in contemporary progressive rock music (people seem to forget that progressive music merged influences from all kinds of different genres). If a band has a certain recognizable sound and the tracks are quite catchy, some people jump to conclusions and label the band as being poprock. So in their point of view Présages is an album that could be defined as such. The roots of Nemo are pretty clear: These guys are influenced by all major bands of the seventies, eighties and of course nineties.

From my point of view Présages is a revelation in the established progressive order. I for one am not concerned about craftsmanship, originality or whatever more. My demands are simple, I want to be moved by the music. It’s been some time since a band raised so many different emotions on one album (Marillion’s Brave might have been the last). Nemo combines all possible emotions. They move me with their acoustic intermezzo’s, their aggressive swings and their rhythmic feel for music. Of course I could give you a detailed analysis of every note played on the album, I could name a couple of references (I hate that in album reviews), but this would turn me into an obsessed whiner. Let the music speak ... and this music speaks!