FIVE SUNS

Guapo is a band heavily inspired by Magma as well as other dark prog bands (ie Crimson). Five Suns is an impressive slice of zeuhl stripped down to its brutally basic elements- pounding, skittering drums, sledgehammer overdriven bass and sometimes-ethereal, sometimes-shrill keyboards. There is a lot of very scary mellotron on this CD, which is an added bonus. Guapo sticks to the program on Five Suns, with pieces that gradually build up in tension before exploding in a frenzy. To say that this stuff is influenced heavily by Magma's "De Futura" would be an understatement. Fortunately, I personally love that piece, so I don't mind at all. Five Sun is excellently produced, particularly in the intimate but not overpowering drum sounds. If you don't like repetition in your instrumental prog, this won't be for you, but if you like music that is aggressive and cosmic at the same time, and beats you up before taking you to the stars, this one's for you. An excellent band, and we should consider ourselves lucky that these younger musicians want to continue the legacy of this kind of music.