VANISHED FROM EARTH

I had the pleasure of seeing the band live a few months ago and I bought their CD from Rodrigo San Martín the guitarist at the end of the show because I really enjoyed their genesis meets "power alternative prog" kind of style.

Charlie Giardina was not present at the performance and Fernando Refay the keyboardist made his best effort to replace the singer, but I must say that after listening to the album at home with Giardina I liked the CD even more (Refay was pretty good live though, just not as good as Giardina).

I have heard several bands from Argentina and I consider myself to be very picky when it comes to choose an album to review specially from my country; the only albums I have ever reviewed are from Bubu, Crucis, ALAS, Lito Vitale, Spinetta Jade, and Serú Girán so this means I am putting these guys on the top list.

The addition of George Carlin speech on "Hydra" was interesting since for a lot of people he is considered one of the most revolutionary social critic comedians of all time and as a prog fan it is always nice to have intellectual additions such as this.

It is hard to describe their sound since it contains a lot of influences and their music is really a Crossover between a melodical neo-prog approach fusioned with progressive metal.

Ignacio Gulich the bassist does an spectacular job as well, I did not want to miss the chance of reviewing his skills because he has a very round and harmonious sound, it's one of my favorite featured electrical bass in a progressive metal album.

The last song that is "Grey Matter Absence" a 25 minutes song that will shake your ears is what makes this album earns most of the stars. Instrumental sections again goes heavily dream theater oriented with a more Italian prog rock fusion a lá Quella Vecchia Locanda on keyboards. Vocals choices are quite interesting on this track as they serve as a perfect connection between different moods for this trippy ride. I am very happy the band achieved an original track such as this one, and last but not least the drummer Buenaventura Lima really shines on this track specially on the heavier side and that is not all; they even did a jazzy section too! Just in case the track was not diverse enough.

Rounding off the album score is a solid 3.5, but It has a lot of 4 out of 5 moments specially on the longest track so I give the album 4/5 for being a surprise and an excellent addition to my progressive rock collection.