ROTTENNESS WAY

An unknown short-lived prog band from Sao Paulo,Brazil.Lei Seca consisted of guitarist/bassist/vocalist Valdir Guimaraes, guitarist/mandolin player/vocalist Valdir Zamboni,keyboardist Mickey Nicolas and drummer Auro Okamoto.Their debut ''Rottenness way'' saw the light in 1997 on Audio Factory.

The band chose to cover many styles related to prog music in this first album,yet ''Rottenness way'' keeps a good balance throughout,except maybe a couple of tracks.The first couple of tracks ''Keep The Koram'' and ''Asia minor'' are great Symphonic Rock gems with lush organ sounds,expressive vocals and melodic guitars, sending strong CAMEL and PAR LINDH PROJECT vibes.''Misgiven'' is actually a decent rock ballad,but the following ''Let it roll'' is absolutely cheesy,groovy guitar rock with DIRE STRAITS influences.Fortunately ''Lei Seca'' is a fantastic Space Rock instrumental with nice organ and PINK FLOYD hints everywhere,but with ''Cyberporn'' the band will fall into a commercial trap again,an awful humurous-wannabee track with a heavy THE ROLLING STONES influence.The self-titled track is a fine Heavy/Psychedelic/Prog anthem reminiscent of SOCRATES with superb guitar work,background keys and intense vocal lines.On ''Nothing to Say'' the band will show again a strong PINK FLOYD influence,good Psychedelic/Space Rock with atmospheric synths,lyrical content and efficient guitar parts.The album will close with Lei Seca showing off their folk side with the short instrumental ''From Music Box to Revelation'',based on acoustic guitars and synths.

Apart from the two aforementioned dull songs,Lei Seca proove to be a nice and talented act with a variety of styles played by the band with consistency and inspiration.The mediocre production does not help,yet the album ends up to be a pleasant listening for the majority of progressive rock followers.Recommended.