PLANETARY OVERLOAD, PART 1 - LOSS

UNITED PROGRESSIVE FRATERNITY - PLANETARY OVERLOAD Part 1: LOSS and ROMANTECHS: REIMAGINE (2019) By Gustavo Panetta Giant Electric Pea Ltd. It could reflect, deepen, think, draw conclusions, establish comparisons, generate debates, etc. ......... .or, simply, to say what we feel when we listen to this great work of UPF. I''m going to choose the 2nd. option, with some brushstrokes of the 1st. This second work in study of UPF, with the leadership of Mark "Truey" Trueack, and the immense contribution of Steve Unruh as a musician and producer, delights us with 2 CDs; being the first, described as Planetary Overload, Part 1: Loss; and the second: Romantechs: Reimagine. The first cut "Loss (Anthem)" is a piece by way of introduction, highlighting the intervention of flute, violin and sax, with the vocal part closely related to the style of Jon Anderson - who participated in the previous album -. The lyrics have an optimistic profile, emphasizing that "the loss will bring all of us together and will make us closer than before". Continues with "What Happens Now" with a beginning of flute chords as Ian Anderson, in the hands of the virtuoso Steve Unruh, continuing with saxophone, alternating with violin and flute, and a rhythm to awaken the lethargy of human beings responsible for the change of the future of our planet with a text that says: "Do not let the planet die". The third song "Cruel Times" (Cruel Times), is one of the best achievements of this work, with a calm beginning of guitar and a very direct message: "these are cruel times, nothing can make it false, there is a lot that we can do, we are the only ones that can do it well. Do not surrender to the fight. " After 3:40 it transforms into a cascade of sounds of the most varied, with jazz structures in piano, under the present, then synthesizer, violin with reminiscences of Kansas, being present wakemanianos chords and excellent vocal arrangements very Yes. Then follows: "What Are We Doing Ourselves", a brief topic that asks us a simple question: What are we doing for ourselves, for our world? All with a background of kalimba, tabla and similar gospel voices. The 5th theme: "Stop Time", is one of my favorites, with a very powerful force and a gigantic and even aggressive lyrics, with great sound display, enjoying the participation in keyboards of Nick Magnus (Steve Hackett), Colin Edwin on bass ( ex - Porcupine Tree) and Hasse Froberg (Flower Kings) in voice. At 3''30 he turns to a melody with Crimson''s touches of the 90''s, rising on the sound scale and with a very concrete description of the toxic tide and always the other shore, with the call to alert to what we do us to stop this destruction. We reached the 6th. cut, "One More", featuring guitar, violin and a very deep and sensitive melody, with a letter with an open ending: "Take a look, do not hide behind a wall; the signs are overwhelming and they blind us completely. " Continuing with the theme 7: "Mercenaries", the same begins with dissonant and distorted vibrations, with a dark voice that speaks of: "questions by the answers that you would not want to know and pass the threshold without return". Then it bursts into a loud and shocking melody that then dissipates, with good interventions of violin and guitar with wah-wah, that go marking an acceleration in a frenetic rhythm of great percussion and then returns to the chorus that talks about: "we can do it Well, we specialize in silent disappearances; at the end of the night we buried everything annoying ", referring to the great powers insensitive to the conceptual theme of this work. It ends abruptly with a great riff of Matt Williams. "What If", track 8, turns out to be a beautiful ballad with acoustic guitar, accompaniment of winds, and with questions such as: "What if the sun will refuse to shine and the sky will turn gray forever; the ocean will dry and the birds will stop singing? ". We continue with "Forgive Me My Son", another of my favorites, which starts with the voice of Truey mentioning the title, an explosion and shrapnel sounds. It turns out to be of great depth, stark and concise in its lyrics, with a violin that is expressed with laments and with the intervention of zitar, oud and other stringed instruments of Indian or Arab origin, which repeat chords as marking times; Reflections on the foolishness of war and at the same time speaks of a flag, a dream, a goal, an opportunity to make free hearts ... ambiguities of our times. We continue with "Dying To Be Reborn", theme 10, being a brilliant piece by Steve Unruh, with a very suggestive title: Die to be reborn. An acoustic guitar strum gives the beginning and end of the song, with an excellent score by George Perdikis and Nick Magnus on keyboards. The next-to-last cut, called "Seeds For Life," begins with a narrative by Dr. Gary Fowler and soundscapes background. We stand in front of the most ambitious and most extensive piece (19:33), with the intervention of a large number of musicians, notably Steve Hackett, Nick Magnus and the Fraternity Symphony Orchestra. At 2:21 there are xylophone sounds, drums, percussion and violin. Then the rhythm accelerates and at 6:15 the guitar intervenes with a sharp and intense plucking. At 7:20 Hackett appears with his classical guitar and some beautiful pieces of Spanish piece, adding the flute and an orchestral background. At 9:00, Truey''s voice intervenes, very similar to Gabriel''s timbre and Marek Arnold''s sax solo followed by high- flying synths. At 11:26 there is a very harmonious melody with piano, which is continued until 12:36 with the guitar intervention with a solid and marked plucking, repeating the same riff. At 13:47 the piano with chords is presented as remembering Emerson in Trilogy. At 14:40 begins a very sweet, optimistic melody, which repeats the same verse with chorus accompanying: "seeds for life, more precious than gold, seeds for the future." In the final part of this emblematic theme, the rhythm increases with distorted violin chords accompanied by the orchestra that goes in-crescendo and then loses in sound intensity, ending with Hackett at the last minute, giving the song a golden touch . The last cut of this great work "Loss To Lost" has an introduction in piano, flute and zitar. Then a steady rhythm is maintained, with choir participation and a hopeful message: "No more fighting, no more friction between us, it''s time to change our way of thinking ... with everything we know we could feed this world .. Let''s do it now !!! " The 2nd CD: Romantechs: Reimagine, which consists of 9 tracks, turns out to be a collection of re-worked versions, on the one hand, by themes by Mark Trueack and Sean Timms (ex Unitopia) (tracks 1 and 9); and on the other side of this work (tracks 2-8). These versions are quieter, with many sound effects or landscapes ordered by the work of Christophe Lebled on keyboards, with the strings of Steve Unruh, the great voice of Truey and some prestigious guests. As a corollary of this Romantechs, I prefer Mark''s words, referring to this work as if Vangelis had participated with his expert hand. I leave a special paragraph for everything that refers to the art of cover and booklet by Ed Unitsky, being the images and composition of photos of a great artistic level, taking the theme of this project to an exquisite interpretation and unique symbolisms.