Machiavel - New Lines (Reissue) (1980/1994)

MACHIAVEL's story is a whale of a tale, beginning when drummer/vocalist Marc Ysaye and bassist Roland Degreef left MOBY DICK to pursue prog rock in their native Belgium. Soon fleshed out to a quintet that included Mario Guccio (vocals), Albert Letecheur (keyboards) and Jean-Paul Devaux (guitar), the band hit their stride on "Jester" (1977) and "Mechanical Moonbeams" (1978). As the '80s dawned, MACHIAVEL shifted away from playing purely progressive music, which led to the departure of Letecheur, followed by Devaux (who was replaced by Thierry Plas).

This new quartet released three more albums before calling it quits in 1983. Ysaye and Letecheur then formed TWILIGHT, while Degreef and Guccio turned up in BEIGE NEIGE. But interest in MACHIAVEL never waned, and in 1987 the previous quartet reunited for one more album, "The Cry of Pleasure." Following a pair of compilations, MACHIAVEL conducted its farewell tour in 1996. "Aloha" tour might have been the better word, as it only fu!eled interest in the band and they once again became a going concern, releasing "Virtual Sun" in 1999. A new disc, "Welcome To Paradise," is due out in early 2003. The secret to the band's success may lie in the words of Machiavelli himself: "One cannot find that they owed anything to fortune but the opportunity which gave them matter to shape into the form they thought right."