THE CHANDRASEKHAR LIMIT

Zenit is a band from Switzerland that has been playing since 1998. The band was founded by Andy Thommen (formerly Clepsydra), Ivo Bernasconi and Gigio Pedruzzi. They've got 3 albums so far and The Chandrasekhar Limit (2013) is the newest one.

The Chandrasekhar Limit (2013) was released by Galileo Records in January and it's being distributed by Gonzo Multimidia that in the last few years has become a specialist in Prog Rock.

Before anything else, it's good to understand why such a weird name for their album. The Chandrasekhar Limit is a mathematical term. It was named after the Indian-American Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar and defines if a white dwarf star remains a star or becomes a black hole. According to the band they felt the same way, not knowing if they were above or below The Chandrasekhar Limit (as a metaphor for their music).

The Chandrasekhar Limit (2013) is bold and try to emulate the old glory days of Prog without fall in the usual clichés that some bands use. We have six tracks, almost 70 minutes of good music. The album is based on long songs (12, 17 and 24 minutes long, for example), but there's no sign of getting bored with it. Sometimes long running time CDs tend to be boring at the end, not here.

'Awaken' starts the album and it's good to see some acoustic guitars. Actually, Lorenzo Sonognini is the vocalist and plays only the acoustic guitar, not on all the tracks, but it's nice to see acoustic guitars as a base instrument. Lorenzo voice is hard to get used to in the beginning, but as soon as the first verses go along, his voice suits the music well. 'Cub Lady' is more a snippet of an idea than a proper track and 'PiGreco' is an instant classic.

'Matrimandir' has Sanskrit lyrics and the sound follows the lyrics with a hypnotic riff. A curiosity is the Bossa Nova part in the middle, and then a 'progger' part follows, three musical fields that, supposedly, have nothing to do with each other. 'Pulsar' is like a Circus music, and it's a fun piece of music but really doesn't go anywhere.

'The Daydream Suite' is the epic of the album. Over 24 minutes long and it's good to hear the acoustic guitars again. It's a fine musical journey that you can take with your eyes closed. Andy Thommen used to play on Clepsydra back in the 90's and it's good to hear such a good bass player that cares for clever parts and cares for the bass sound. Much of the bass players nowadays plays Prog with 5 strings bass and forget the mid-high frequencies. Ivo Bernasconi is subtle with the keyboards, but precise. Gabriele Schira has a good drum sound and Luigi Biamino at a first glance doesn't appear at all with the guitars, but that's where the trick lies. His sound builds up the atmosphere the band needs to get a good sound!

The Chandrasekhar Limit (2013) is a proof that Prog can still be refreshing with good musicians on the instruments. I'm not talking about technically good musicians, I'm talking about intelligent musicians that work for the song and Zenit definitely has it.