RACO

The best way I can describe this Chilean band is to call them the progressive Evanescence. On Raco, Crisálida juxtaposes graceful, light passages with semi-metal barrages, sewn together with elegantly powerful feminine vocals. The end result fluctuates frequently between excellence and dullness- the former due to strong technical ability and remarkable melodies, and the latter for their trying to be artistic instead of just making the amazing music they are capable of.

"Deficit Global" One might mistake this as a techno song initially, but as the drums and heavy guitars come in over the synthesizer, and later vocals, we are treated to neo-progressive rock excellence. Rapid-fire guitar and synthesizer soloing is the icing on the cake.

"Indigo" Steady and lethargic, this piece begins like a female-fronted Pink Floyd. It carries on in this pleasantly indolent manner until an eerie piano goes alone until joined by a heavy band. The music resumes its Pink Floyd-like meandering before petering off.

"Mi Libertad" The band returns to semi-metal on this third piece, but the addition of fluid keyboards gives it a little something extra. The vocal melody over the bass is excellent.

"Corporatocracy" This extended piece makes extensive use of the monologues of Arthur Jensen and Howard Beale in the Paddy Chayefsky film Network. The music itself involves various instrumental bits, particularly a smooth bass solo and a soaring lead guitar passage, but overall tends to get boring.

"Desterra" Taking on a simpler rock approach, the first half of this song would make for an effective 1980s FM hit. The lead guitar is so soulful. Halfway through it changes into piano and thick crashes of guitar, bass and drums.

"Raco I Intro" This is an eerie, atmospheric introduction- not much to it.

"Raco II Viento Del Sur" Led by an exciting piano, the final piece launches into a loose, grungy feel. As usual, the singing is terrific, sounding great over the dark background of deep bass and a Mellotron-like backing. It picks up midway through, making great use of various keyboard tones, finishing up with some heavy guitar.

Crisalida from Chile is mixing neo prog and progressive metal on this, their second album. Mostly progressive rock, it has to be said. The references to Dream Theater is there. But Cinthia Santibáñez female vocals is setting this band apart from the above mentioned band. The same also goes for the frequent references to Pink Floyd throughout this album. The same also goes for some goth metal references. To a large extent, Crisalida reminds me about Sleepwalker Sun from the same continent. But Crisalida's music is far more commercial than Sleepwalker Sun's music.

The quality of the songs is pretty good throughout. It is obvious that the band knows what they are doing. Cinthia Santibáñez vocals are also very good. The problem is that the songs are pretty bland, although good. I simply do not "get" them. This album is sorely missing the X Factor which elevates an album from good to great. But this album is still good and it has some great pieces. The guitars and the tangents is great. Unfortunate, they are let down by the quality of the material. But I will keep an eye on this band because they have potential.

3 stars

The second album of Crisalida from Chile is not as strong as its debut which was released three years before this one. I was impressed with the debut album but not with this one, even though it's not a bad album at all. The band is actually not a pure neo prog band as there are many influences from progressive metal scene especially through the frequent use of heavy riffs. The opening track "Deficit Global" demonstrates that its music is more towards progressive metal than neo-prog, The female vocal voice sounds powerful on this opening track. The second track "Indigo" starts mellow in blues influence style and it has some good variations throughout the span of the track, including soft piano solo. Actually this track should not be positioned as second track because the opening track is quite energetic in style.

The third track "Mi Libertad" brings the music back into more energetic style even though it's not quite successful on that. "Corporatocracy" continues the style of previous track with some heavy riffs. There is very little variation offered by this song and it tends to be boring as there are many repeat riffs with no innovation to make better composition. "Desterra" sounds nice but the music is quite empty. The other two concluding tracks "Raco I Intro" and "Raco II Viento Del Sur" fail to elevate the music back into energy. The overall album sounds boring to my ears.

This is for collector only - those who really loyal to Crisalida. Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW