Band:	Holson
Album:	Holson
Style:	Rock
Release date:	2009
A review by:	Jeff

01. Invocation
02. Si Près Et Si Loin
03. Passez Devant
04. Rien Ni Personne
05. Cliché (De Vie Instantanée)
06. Sans Aucun Répit
07. Survole Tout Ca
08. Dans l'urgence
09. Un Peu Plus Loin
10. N'oublie pas

Benjamin Holson is a young French musician and "Holson" is the first album of his combo composed of three other musicians. The "funny" story behind this album is that the studio where everything was recorded burned entirely except the hard drive where everything was recorded... When this album has to be released it seems that nothing could stop it right? And it was good thing because "Holson" is a good release, not perfect but honest really.

Don't expect anything violent here, the music of Holson is something clearly influenced by Pop Rock even if obviously we have Hard Rock riffs and real guitars soli. The fact that Benjamin sings in French give a good emotive side to the songs but removes also any kind of energy that some English lyrics could give. What I want to say here is that "Holson" is a good album of Rock n Roll but the voice of Benjamin (which is really good anyway) and his lyrics are a bit too similar too all the French Pop singers that we can listen to the radio today and it's a bit too Pop for me in general. Oki at least it's catchy but it could be perfect if it could be heavier and more "angry". It's probably the wish of Holson to play such kind of music but when I hear some riffs I'm sure that it could be better with some most energy.

The album was produced by Scott Greiner (Santana, The Melvins etc...) and the sound is just exceptional. I have to congratulate the band because few French bands propose such quality of recording. As you already know, my only problem with the release come from the Pop side of the album but if you're not looking for something violent and use to listen to Pop Rock in general, I'm sure that you'll like this album. Plus, really this is better than a ton of other famous artists of the category and here at least with have real guitar soli!

"Holson" is an album for a really typical audience and not really for metalheads. But if you like melodic Rock you'll probably like the release. Have a look at it, Holson is a good band and this first release is promising.