CEREMONIAS

In their debut, this Argentinean band present us with a sound firmly rooted in Seventies textures, and yet achieving an identity totally of their own, oriented to an organic feel, not only for the warm tone of keyboards and guitars, but also for the whole production concept, which integrates the rhythm section in the same page, and the magnificent violin taking that organicist premise to an awesome level of cohesion.

The opener Leve commences with a great synthesizers fanfare, in a folk-meet-baroque style, giving way soon after to the vocal melody, with a clear Spanish enunciation avoiding local accents that, together with the lyrics, impose a truly solemn atmosphere in accordance with the poetic content.

Track 2 El Alquimista is an elaborated song loosely based on the eponymous poem by Jorge Luis Borges, and the track 3 Un Largo Camino A Fin De Mes (A Long Way To Make Ends Meet), one of my favorite moments, is an instrumental piece building progressively momentum on the increasingly pounding sonority of the drums. There are great keyboard figures outlining the structure, and a fantastic violin solo too.

Track 4 Podrás Llorar and track 5 Plano Astral bring all the main ingredients that make a prog heart happy: moving melodies mounted on a killer rhythmic drive, choral passages, memorable guitar and violin solos, and contrasting mood and pace changing from section to section.

Track 7 Ceremonias is the main "side-long" suite, with terrific solos, beautiful classical acoustic interludes by piano, guitar and violin, and an epic take on the vocals leading to a paroxismal climax in the pinnacle of the vocal range. The closing instrumental track Levissimo is the cherry on top, bringing back the calm with minimal arpeggiated lines, choral phantasmagoria and delicious violin.

Epic, both in attitude, and form.