CICLOTIMIA

Symphonic prog was never my favourite genre. What I always considered the weakest point of symphonic prog was the compositions. It always seemed a bit pointless to me (that as a very general opinion. There is no doubt there are amazing compositions as well as masterpieces in symphonic prog). Strangely enough a band from Argentina with very young members manages to change my idea. Considering the year this cd was released and the age of the members what would somebody expect would be a pretentious and really bad attempt to copy what was happening in the great days of symphonic prog. Amagrama with their release "ciclotimia" will prove you're wrong. A cd that sounds extremely fresh and honest. Great compositions, musicianship and performance by the four friends from Argentina.

"Ciclotimia" is a cd that is both excellent in terms of compositions and very "natural". I can't really understand how so young people can create so mature music. Even though this band has technical abilities they don't show them all the time. They create high quality music without sounding pretentious. Complex but not tiring or boring this cd flows so well that the55 minutes of music pass like being 10. The sound is amazing and the hole atmosphere is so pleasing. It's a cd that must be heard loud!

Juan Cruz Sanabria has both a more "crunchy" and a very "sweet" sound when soloing and answers to Agustin Amaya's beautiful keyboards creating brilliant passages between keyboards and guitar. Agustin Amaya's vocals aren't anything special but surely not bad. Javier Martinez supports the melodies that are all over so well creating very nice and "smart" bass lines and finally, Juan Amaya has a great sound and manages to create the rhythmic base and make the tracks sound more interesting. He also plays percussion.

What we've got here is a very promising band. Who knows what will happen if this band evolves. They keep the symphonic prog flag flying high. Highly recommended to symphonic prog fans and to people hoping for a good future in progressive music. 4 stars - excellent addition to any prog music collection.