SAENA

Once again I will have to restrain myself not to start a debate in my review about the accuracy of the subgenre our teams put a band in. With Saena we have another "tough to pigeonhole" case one might say. When I see symphonic prog I have different expectations from what I hear playing this album. Eclectic prog or even prog folk is more what I have in mind when I listen to this output.

Saena sounds a bit like a mixture of Thieves Kitchen (The Water Road !) and Minimum Vital. Well, Minimum Vital is actually French whilst Saena come from Mexico so the comparison isn't 100% logic but still it feels that way. The instrumental handling are both dissonant and melodic which is strange because usually it's one of both. The female vocals by Margarita Botello are dissonant most of the time and I have to say this is not my cup of tea. Yet it all sounds distinguished and not messy or sloppy. Maybe I'm confusing dissonant with complexity of melodies here because the melodies are pretty hard to digest. Funny enough Saena is similar in this respect to French neoband Saens (note the just one letter difference :)

All in all Saena is too good to go down with a two star verdict. It's what I had in mind actually every time I listened to this album. But then it would be a total reflection of my personal taste and it would leave out all the positive elements this band and music have. And that wouldn't be fair really. So I will pay my respect for the band and for all reviewers so far who are probably more right than I am (all gave 4* so far). But I have to let my personal taste play a role as well so I will settle for three stars in the end. Recommended for fans of mentioned bands and for those who like the more extraordinary sorts of prog. Don't expect anything harmonic melodic music as is common in most symphonic prog though (hence my comments in first paragraph).