Review: PROST – Believe Again
Pride & Joy Music (April 25th, 2025)
Reviewer: Jason Hopper
Prost is a project assembled by Antoine Prost, a French guitarist who had over 40 years of experience in the industry and was able to pull together other fellow musicians who shared in his passion for constructing 80s inspired hard rock with a modern sheen. In 2023, Antoine and vocalist Manos Fatsis had a chance meeting and developed an instant musical chemistry. With Antoine constructing the music and Manos establishing lyrics and vocal melodies, they constructed an album’s worth of high energy, anthemic bangers that are sure to get the attention of all who follow bands like FM, Degreed, and Alien.
The first thing I noticed with opening track ‘Lone Survivor’ is the hefty vocals of Manos Fatsis. Rich and lush are two words that immediately come to mind. In describing his prowess, I would say it’s a mix between FM’s Steve Overland and H.E.A.T’s Kenny Leckremo. This song is very much in the vein of that latter band and it’s a strong way to open the album.
The one song that resonated with me the most and made me feel like I could take on the world is the title track. ‘Believe Again’ is a mid-tempo, melody drenched love song that can go toe to toe with the classics of the AOR/hard rock genre. It’s a beautifully constructed song structure with all the feels and a hell of a blistering guitar solo courtesy of Mr. Prost. It’s been a long time since a solo erupted through my headphones and blew me away, but that manages to happen here. An instant classic.
The album is chock full of these types of arrangements. While the two opening tracks above are my standouts, every track shines here with nary a dull one in sight. I’ll note a few other ones that made me hit the repeat button.
‘Hearts and Dreams’ tricks you by pulling the listener in with an ambient melancholy keys and synth structure before unleashing the full band frenetic sonics with the keys and guitar matching to create the fast-paced melody. Its urgency gets the heart pumping and is the “heaviest” song on the album.
‘Standing On the Edge’ has a great song structure that meticulously builds to a chorus with infectious power chords. It’s a familiar song structure but done with passion for the craft. I love how the guitar takes a backseat at times only to come roaring forth at just the right moment. I’m a sucker for that type of arrangement and it’s done perfectly here.
The album closes with ‘Flame of Hope’, a slower paced but hard hitting, passionate tune with an air of defiance and a spirit to never give up. It’s got a Whitesnake vibe to it and reminded me of ‘Sailing Ships’, the concluding track from their album Slip of the Tongue or at least the latter half of that song. Could easily see David Coverdale taking on this tune.
The album is produced by Mats Eriksson, their drummer who also produces and plays drums for Degreed. He brings a great sound to the album, and you hear a bit of his other band in tunes like ‘Summer Days’ and ‘Standing On the Edge’. If you like his full time band, then you will dig what he has produced here.
Never having heard of Antoine Prost, I am floored that he has never made a name for himself within the genre. In doing some internet sleuthing, there’s very little info on him. The man can assemble infectious melodies and is an outstanding guitar player. Hopefully a project like this is not a one and done and we hear more from this band in the near future. This is too good of a release to not have a follow-up. Another new great band/project for AOR/hard rock enthusiasts to check out.
Tracklist:
- Lone Survivor
- Believe Again
- Comfort Zone
- Never Let You Go
- Through The Nights
- Hearts and Dreams
- Summer Days
- Road of Tomorrow
- Cold Fire
- Standing On the Edge
- Flame of Hope
Line-up:
Antoine Prost – Guitar , Keyboards
Manos Fatsis – Vocals
Greg Aubert – Bass
Mats Eriksson – Drums
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