SAMSARA

This is a strange animal to review, as it has a lot going for it and some evident negatives as well and one seems to cancel the other out each time your just about to make a decision. Let's get the plusses out of the way first; This opus is definitely in the Marillion-IQ- Pendragon universe with some fairly decent singing and quite good instrumental prowess. The keyboard player, Manuel Mas is a notch above the usual tinny keyboard patch mongers associated with Neo-Prog. The bassist and drummer are also a slight notch ahead of the game. The acoustic and Spanish guitar is often exquisite but Antonio Valente's electric style, tone and technique just doesn't push my rather easy buttons. It's too often sloppy and plodding to the point of distraction and way to obvious at other times. Someone like Musical Witchcraft's Zsolt Vamos would be the ideal candidate to set some blazzing fire to these pretty decent songs. The opening instrumental is a tasty entrance into their music. As the second track "Genesis" (ouch!) develops, my anti-guitar rants becomes rather self evident, simply not the right technique (Sorry, Antonio!). Just as the sour feelings start settling in , the band does good with "Lady Time" to "Psychodrama" , a 30 minute stretch that erases the previous bad taste. The best way to rate this is as follows: a decent debut effort by some talented musicians , whose second offering (if ever) should take them into the more serious level of progdom, as long as the get a more focused effort on lead guitar (which is often Neo's greatest asset). Mucha suerte, caballeros! 3 tapas