SNOOZE

A group from Portugal make a sound like a stranger mix of Marillion and heavy-prog. I like very much this kind of sound because the band not make a copy of any kind of band but make a sound original. Buy the the album "Snooze" and you have a good experience of prog-rock made in Portugal with a good musicians and a good and theatral voice.

Being portuguese I may sound unpartial but the fact is I consider "Snooze" to be one of the most revealing albuns I've heard in years. Composition, musicians and lead vocals reveal great talent and beauty. The virtuosism never takes over the band's union and direction but each musician's emotions appear to be perfectly tuned. The result is a surprisingly cohese sound with very intense emotional content.

Before I listened to the album I was expecting to be remembering Marillion all the time but the fact is they made me see a whole new musical identity that has in fact some similarities with old Marillion but sounded intirely new to me. The vocals were a pleasant surprise.

Perhaps they deserve a better production next time since I found some parts to be somewhat poorly processed (the instruments could explore more panoramics and stereo effects I think)

Nevertheless, 4/5 is definitely the minimum they deserve!

When you look to the beautiful cover of this album, something tells you that you are not going to be disappointed with it. And you're right: the music is as beautiful as the cover itself. This is one of the most underrated albums of 2004, I don't see it worse than Riverside's "Out of Myself", White Willow's "Storm Season" or Knight's Area "The Sun Also Rises".

The mainly influence of the album is DREAM THEATER. We can see it in the several different arrangements of the tracks. It does not have the same strength or intensity of DREAM THEATER's riffs and orchestration, but it not the main objective. This is a more rock orientated album. But certainly it does not lack it in emotional intensity or beautiful and pleasant instrument passages! This is a true progressive album, with long complex suites, take look for example at the long 19:53 Dream Killer with its several musical passages. The part starting at 14:20 minute is the climax of the song (probably inspired in SYMPHONY X) very melancholic and intense as Linx sings "Could this be over/Should I trust life again" followed by a strength chorus repeating himself and reinforcing the idea! Fantastic! The track Pay the Price shows an obviously ARENA and neo progressive bands inspiration.

All over the album beautiful melodies, Linx voice is very nice, all the music performers show good qualities in their instruments. There are many emotional guitar solo's a la PINK FLOYD all over like in the superb Struggle of the 2nd cd; fairly good piano passages, good bass performing (not boring repetitive, very creative), some symphonic deriving in the organ passages, good background chorus and some real background motives like the wind in A Truce. Instrumentally, fairly good! Good ambiences!

Overall, despite not being a force of originality, it blends some influences quite well, offering you a lot of feelings (and that's progressive mood it's all about). If you're a progressive rock fan or a DREAM THEATER's fan who does not mind a little less heavy sounding, you will love this album.

My rate: 6/10

This album has it all; instrumental diversity, perfect musicianship in the prog and metal ranges, an original and recogniseable sound and best of all fantastically composed melodic concepts. I haven't felt this fulfilled about a prog album since Ayreon's Into Electric Castle. Altough it's nothing like that, the satisfaction is unsurpassed. Buy like you've never bought before, wait untill the twilight, sit back, chillax and enjoy with a good glass of red wine.

It took some four years for this Portuguese band to release their second album. They experienced several line-up changes/problems which explains partially this long gestation time.

While their first album was a mix between "Marillion" and some metal sounds, this one starts more in the vein of a band like "Arena". Neo, but on the heavy side. It opens with startling shout like Dave Vanian's one in "New Rose". This short and almost instrumental opener is a good introduction to this album and holds lots of elements which are going to be featured in this double CD set.

"Senes" is very a very melodic and dark song. Still inspired by "Arena", the chorus is catchy and melodic while the music is almost doom metal. The sound of the whole of this album is not very much diversified. Compositions are well crafted, there are some excellent and inspired guitar breaks but over eighty minutes of this treat is a bit too much.

Several tracks sound a bit of the same ("Strange Affair With The Night"). The most interesting song is of course "Dream Killer". An imposing epic which lasts for about twenty minutes, featuring plenty and heavy synthesizers. Very much in the "Dream Theater" style.

Killer riffs, powerful beat and more than anything, convincing vocals; but this was a strong point of the band. Linx is the name of the guy. He adds a definite value to the music performed by "Forgotten Suns". This fully DT oriented song indicates how mighty this band can be. "Dream Killer" is a good anthem of this genre (heavy prog) but thanks to the emotional vocals and soft passages, it is a very sophisticated piece of music which flows naturally well from start to finish. The highlight of course. Just lacking a great and bombastic finale maybe (like in "Moviedrome").

"Pay The Price" closes the first CD on a good note. It combines again strong melodic vocal lines with some heavy bass and guitar. It is a typical archetype of good prog (heavy) metal song.

The second CD starts almost like "Bohemian Rhapsody" (!) and also belongs to the best of this album. This song is more on the melodic side and could be related with the "Ayreon" style. It presents some nice interplay between sophisticated guitar breaks, light vocal passages and very subtle keyboards. It is definitely on par with "Dream Killer". It is probably the more symphonic of their songs and therefore one of my fave from their two albums.

The second CD is much more joyful than the first one. Angel's Embrace is a neo-prog ballad which is rather poignant and it conveys a wonderful and optimistic feeling. Again, the superb guitar solo deserves to be investigated.

The band would have been inspired to get rid of the three very short tracks to allow "snooze" to fit on one CD. Neither "Floating Spirit Dimension", "Death" nor "A Truce" bring additional value of the whole of this good work. The closing number also sounds weaker to my ears. The final Sentence is on the mellow side. It takes over five minutes to be interesting.

According to their web site, the band is now finalizing the pre-production of their third album (with a new lead singer) and some touring dates are already planned for 2008. So, this band will go on for some time. One of the few to hold the Portuguese flag.

This is a good album. Two excellent long songs (over thirty-three minutes), and several good ones would deserve seven out of ten. Three stars.

FORGOTTEN SUNS are from Portugal and this their second record is a concept double album. I enjoy their sound, it's on the heavy side at times but considering this is a concept album the focus is mostly on the lyrics. The vocals are in English with an accent, actually I was reminded of Marco from SYLVAN many times. Lots of keyboards and prominant bass as well. Aparently the concept deals with this man who through his dreams ("Snooze") is able to deal with things from his past that still bother him.

"Dreaming Of Reality" opens with someone yelling out then the song kicks in with an uptempo melody. The tempo shifts quite often. Vocals 2 1/2 minutes in. It blends into "Senses" where we get some brief heaviness after 1 1/2 minutes. This is also an uptempo track. I like the synths when it settles after 6 minutes. It's heavy again 8 minutes in. "Strange Affair With The Night" is one of my favourites. It opens with keyboards and is a brighter track that makes me feel good. The guitar comes in as the sound gets fuller. Reserved vocals before 2 minutes. I like this, especially with the background synths. A tasteful guitar solo comes in before 7 1/2 minutes to the end of the song. "Dream Killer" is the almost 20 minute epic. Almost spoken vocals to open. It kicks in before a minute. I like the sound of the guitar 4 1/2 minutes in. A calm 7 minutes in with those almost spoken vocals again. Riffs before 13 minutes. An enjoyable bass, drum and guitar melody before 16 minutes and later at 18 minutes. "Floating Spirit" is a cool sounding song with synths,vocals and acoustic guitar. "Pay The Price" ends disc one. Synths to open followed by some heaviness. Vocals after a minute. It's an ok tune.

"Struggle" opens with these processed vocals (yikes). Fortunately it kicks in with some good guitar then bass 1 1/2 minutes in. Vocals and heavy drums follow. It settles with piano after 2 1/2 minutes. It stays fairly calm as guitar, bass and vocals come in. Then it kicks in before settling again. I like the soaring guitar 10 1/2 minutes in. "Death" features reserved vocals and piano throughout. "Angels' Embrace" opens with piano as vocals join in. This one is mellow like the last track. Great sound 3 1/2 minutes in. "A Truce" is a short piece with keyboards and vocals. "The Final Sentence" opens with strummed guitar as vocals join in. Haunting synths here. I really like this sound. It kicks in before 5 1/2 minutes with electric guitar. He reminds me of Marco a lot right here.

Lots to like here, but also (as with most double albums) there's a fair amount of music that's just ok.

Forgotten Suns are from Portugal and they offer a type of prog metal that in many places is melted with neo prog elements, sounding in the end like a metalized neo prog, very much if you combine Dream Theater with Arena for example you will got this band. Formed around mid 90s, they release so far only 4 albums, their second offer from 2004 named Snooze is considered their peak. THis is a conceptual double album clocking around 80 min and is to me a pleasent listen from start to finish. Nice vocal lines, quite strong keyboards and guitars, long elaborated passages, all is here for a great album, the originality lacks big time, but is not a big problem for me. They manage to combine mellow sections with more up tempo in pleasent and enjoyble manner, many parts remind me of DT around the best period the '90s. Even is a long ride, all pieces are more then ok, each one flows very nice one to other and the listner is conected to the music offered. Forte tracks let's say the opening Dreaming of reality, followed by Senses, Dream kille or Struggle. All in all a nice little album, quite unknown but I think worth investigated, one of the better bands from Portugal in last decades. For sure 3 stars rounded to 3.5, nice art work and all package.