THE GODDESS OF DARKNESS

Ars Nova is a band (i use the word "band" in an euphemistic way) formed, in this album, by 3 Japanese girls, lead by Keiko Kumagai, the girl behid the keyboards (yes, more than 1 keyboard); in other albums the member are 2, 3, maybe 4, but always leaded by Keiko (she's a genius, so, there's no problem at all)

This album has the classical ELP formation, and monopolized by the keyboards, but no a bad monopoly, as Wondows, with terrible results for your RAM, no, here is for good, an armonic monopoly: a good bass, great drums, but the keyboards is the principal very body of it.

It begans with an oppressive introduction, wich gives us some chorus, harmonies and strength, we can heard some voices (from the keyboard, of course) wich take you to some ritual for bring Cthulhu back, and then we can heard the screms of horror form someone who saw what was coming, silence, listen my friends, what's coming: Kieko was unleashed!, we found gamos of tunes, changes of rhythms, go and back by abysses and paradises, madness, sanity, and go back to madness, as a friend told me "between screems and angels"; i think that's a good definition to this song.

The second and the third songs are great songs, Wakeman must be excited when he listens these songs, while the cd is running, the quality grows, something essential.

The 4th song is more relaxed, more symphonyc, but excellent.

Then the 5th and last song comes: after surviving the abisses, to have seen gods born eons ago, after a walk by the wonders of the world, just to see how they turn into a face twisted, a parody of what the were, by covetous and destructives gods, just like their names; in this end we aproach to the ecstacy, the songs growns in intensity every secound, until we need to set free the tension, but, how?, it just grows!, but no, i sais keiko is a genius: she brings an end that, in unskilled hands, would be an accumulation of tension, but here it becomes in a moment of total distension, at least we can die freely: we know that the pace will never came, the chaos reign, something like a comunist goberment, but, in spite of all that, we saw the beuty of the destruction and we could understand why 1+1=10

One of the best albums i've ever heard, belive me, if you like the soloists works of wakeman this album will like you!