I don't know much about what was going on in Belgium at the close of 1976, but I do know that an extremely unique sounding progressive psychedelic group who went by the name "Dragon" was finishing up their first self-titled album.
The seventies was a fantastic decade for prog rock, the early seventies being a notable time for some epic experimentation and creativity. Enough time had passed for groups to naturally follow the musicians of the U.K.'s lead and continuously top one another with each release. Whether Dragon's first LP is a contender in said race is debatable especially since they lean on the more psychedelic/fantasy side of the genre. Not to mention, King Crimson, Yes, and Soft Machine (to name a few) had already spent up to a decade perfecting their obsessive renditions of skillful progressive rock and by 1976 most prog around the world was already falling into the doomed clutches of the sappy sounds that the next (eighties) decade would bring. Even closer to home, Irish Coffee had a memorable progressive record in Belgium five years earlier than Dragon, in 1971 with Same. With that said, Dragon had some time to be heavily influenced. Regardless of what slot in time Dragon fit into, they did something interesting that seems to have held up since.
The album contains all the ingredients for an epic prog record: guitar, bass, drums, Hammond organ, Mellotron, and some vocals that seem a little too fitting.
The record was originally released on Acorn Records [1500 copies] and was reissued on Golden Pavilion Records [500 copies] last year but has since sold out.
Here's the opening track "Introduction (Insects)".
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