GEMINI

I waited a long time to do this review and the reason is it's a tough album to get a grip on. And the main reason for that is the very different sounds and styles this album contains. It's a mix of regular neo prog (keys with electric guitar) combined with some of the finest acoustic music you will ever hear in your life. Third significant feature is the Portuguese language in which this album is mainly sung.

Gemini is a short album and it could have been a vinyl with appr. 20 minutes of music on each side. The first song is a regular neo prog track and with this one Solis seems just another one in a long line up of very fine neobands in my collection. The track offers almost 12 minutes of melodic music featuring the usual instruments.

But what this album is really about in my opinion is shown in the second song Alma Gêmea. The finest acoustic music I was talking about is what you can experience in the first six minutes of this enchanting track. It stands out in authenticity and genuineness beyond believe. It's so mollifying and this release is worthy of procuring just because of this part. Unfortunately the last three minutes ruin it a bit with piano and electric guitar that shouldn't have been there really. And that coming from me as huge fan of electric guitar. It should tell enough ...

Third track is very short and are a bit of the same as first six minutes of previous. With biggest difference the overdone sliding of the fingers across the strings that spoils this one a bit.

The album ends with a pretty long epical track with both styles combined and it's probably the best example why I can't really pigeon-hole this album in the end. The beginning and ending of this epic is multi instrumental with keyboards and electric guitar like in the opening track but the middle part is once again with lots of acoustic guitar and the authentic vocals. These vocals by the way are the biggest factor in the mollifying feeling this album creates. The voice is far from perfect, sometimes even seems out of tune but still enchants you. Very special !

Anyway, also the final rating for this release is pretty hard. The exceptional six minutes in second song are simply of masterpiece level but alas it's not all we are treated with. The constant tossing about of the mentioned styles doesn't work very well for me I'm afraid and I would almost give three stars because of that. But what prevails ultimately is the fact we're dealing with a very special album here. Non-essential is not the right description here so I will have to round up because of that. Four stars rounded up from a strong 3,5.