VOCES DEL BOSQUE

I was blown away by Astralis their wonderful debut album Bienvenida Al Interior from 2006. But I had to wait 3 years for the successor entitled Voces Del Bosque. And even 4 years on their thrid album Fantas'a de Invierno, from 2013. The most important element in Astralis their music is creating pleasant and compelling atmospheres with emotional, pretty distinctive vocals and moving guitar work. To me Astralis often sounds as the 'Latin American Neo Prog answer to Pendragon'.

Looking at the line-up on this second album I notice one change: keyboard player Juan Pablo Gaete is replaced by Mauricio Gaggero. But listening to this new CD I can hardly hear any difference between these two keyboard players, again we can enjoy choir-Mellotron-like layers, fluent synthesizer flights, swelling church-organ, soaring keyboards and pleasant piano runs. But the focus is on Patrico Vera his moving guitar work, with lots of howling runs and propulsive riffs.

Especially in the titletrack : from tender to very sensitive in the bombastic, very moving closing section.

In the song Caminos Internos : powerful and flowing in the vein of Nick Barrett.

And the excellent final composition Saraswati: a long, strongly build-up solo with elements from David Gilmour (bluesy) and Carlos Santana (very intense sound), culminating in a compelling final part with propulsive drums and bombastic keyboards, goose bumps!

The two short songs sound a bit different: a playful tune with delicate interplay between guitar and keyboard flute in Los Pasantes and catchy neo-prog with tasteful guitar and keyboards in N'ctar De Luz. But in general Astralis sounds as on their debut CD, the best example is my highlight Est's Aqu': after a dreamy intro, a slow rhythm with howling guitar follows, then a mindblowing part (play it loud!) with an atmosphere between ominous with a swelling church organ, a soft but propulsive bass sound, sensitive electric guitar runs and dramatic vocals and finally a slow, very compelling rhythm with moving guitar, great!

I am sure this Latin American Neo Prog answer to Pendragon will delight the fans, because Astralis have delivered an album with emotion (typical for Latin American prog) as the main ingredient, well done, it was worth waiting 3 years!