DANDELION

Dandelion not only surpasses the already excellent A Relative Moment of Peace, it is a definitive step forward in fact. The band decides to go heavier this time, however this does not sacrifice the balance of acoustic moments and world music/electronic passages of the debut. The heavy parts are incredible well constructed with intensive guitar riffs and killing keyboard playing, all supported with superb harmony vocals. The choice to include whistles was a critical one, as it fits perfectly with the signature acoustic identity of Time's Forgotten: mellow acoustic guitars, mellotron and piano. The electronic nerve of the band is specially highlighted in the third track, Indifferent, in which it is melted with a guitar loop to create a groovy atmosphere to the song. My favorite songs are The Tale of the Sun and Moon (Dandelion) with a great work of acoustic and electric guitars and Silent Waters, an experimental track with pipes, piano, synthesized strings and whispered voices. This is a very complex record, full of rich melodies and excellent compositions, almost flawless. Highly Recommended! 4.5 Stars.

Time's Forgotten had everyone talking when they released their first album, A fresh breath on the overly satured Prog Metal market. Of course, after a such magnificent effort, everyone was with very high expectations about their second album. The question is: Does "Dandelion" lives on the hype? The answer is easy, a clear and big "YES" (caps intended).

Dandelion presents an stronger Time's Forgotten, with heavier guitar work, and more intricate compositions and musicianship, but still keeping the -now traditional- Time's Forgotten sound. I've always said that, when you can pick a band over the others just by indentifying their trademark sound, it's a sign that they are doing things good.

The musical landscape that Dandelion presents us is very wide; going from the typical prog-metal-technical riffs, to some mellow rock-related passages, finding on the way some strokes of electronic music, classic mellotron moments, irish-esque flute passages, and some mystic chants and melodies that carry us to a very picturesque portrait. But don't let that variety of sounds fool you, all the music spins around a centric idea, making the album feel like a whole, and not like a bunch of song thrown there nosenseless .

Longui (main vocalist) surpass himself by a very wide margin (in comparison to the first release). On of my first complains about "A relative moment of peace" was his performance. I was by no means bad, BUT, neither was at the quality of the whole album. On "Dandelion" he sounds a lot lot better his highs are pretty impressive, and the soft, mellower parts works very good for him too, that helped by the fact that the quality recording if very good, same with the vocal melodies.

Speaking of vocal melodies, Time's Forgotten really knows when and how to used them right. Most of the time, there are several layer of voice on the mix, adding a great touch to the music, and in more specific cases, there are very memorable chorus (keeping the catchy Time's trademark) present on the whole album. "Everything's not lost" and "Backhome" comes to mind. Also, we can't left unmentioned "Welcome you my night" (Best song on the album, in my opinion), with its epic chants at the beginning-end.

Fortunately, the rifting is also catchy, yet at the same time very powerful and intricate. I can even venture to say that the guitar work is the best part of the whole picture. It's obvious that the band put a lot of effort on getting this right, and they succeeded very well. From the electro-disco feeling present on "Indifferent", to the heavy-crunchy riff (Paired with a nice vocal work) at the middle of "The Tale of Moon and Sun", every song had their single special something that can make stand among the others

My only significant complaint is that, the flute / Celtic passages could have been a lot more linked to the song itself. Sometimes, although they sound cool, these irish-esque parts feels very very separate from the song,

Overall, this is a very recommended album for both those who enjoy some Progressive Metal, and for those who also enjoy some good, softer prog rock. Summarizing even more, this album should be accessible for everyone that enjoys good music.

4.4 / 5

When I realized Time's Forgotten got into studio to record their second album I was so excited. I daily checked up their website's forums just to know the day it was finally going to be released. A Relative Moment of Peace was an amazing debut from the band so Dandelion, their second attempt, promised to be even better.

This time we have a heavier album, there are great ambient melodies and strong compositions. Drums sound this time is superb, something that really failed in their debut and I'm talking specifically about the sound not the playing which in both albums are excellent.

Unfortunately not everything is perfect here, after playing Dandelion several times I'm still missing more elaborated guitar solos and at least one keys or bass solo. There are some pretty good guitar solos of course but they sound too restrained, not making justice to Ari's and Leo's capabilities.

However this is not the weakest part of the album, what I loved of ARMOP and don't like of Dandelion are the vocals. It is very noticeable that this time Longhi is singing till his limits and some notes just don't seemed to fit melodies. He is a great singer, probably the best in Costa Rica's scene but his braveness and risky singing betrayed him this time.

Favorite tracks: Indifferent and The Tale Of the Moon and the Sun. Have to point out the electronic elements, perfect soundscapes (Silent Waters) and Juan Pablo´s trademark playing. Something great about this band is how easy it is to identify their music. In general Dandelion is a pretty good album, quite different from ARMOP and this is something positive to highlight. Great Costa Rican band, great effort. Almost 4 stars

TIME'S FORGOTTEN is a progressive metal band from Costa Rica dating back to 2004 with their frontman keyboardist Juan Pablo CALVO. Known for having opened for ANGRA and AVANTASIA. They are releasing their second album there.

63 minutes for this full album where the sounds are diverse and that's what made me fall on it and stay there. A basic progressive metal sound with heavy riffs, borderline pompous keyboards, solo guitars that could take up a little more space; purely neo-progressive moments with intricate musical drawers that make you prick up your ears; 'Second Time', 'Backhome', 'Welcome you my night' and 'Silent Waters' for its experimental side are the central pieces in my opinion; as for the suite 'The Tale of the Sun and Moon (Dandelion)' it is quite simply for me the example of metal-prog fusion with an almost avant-garde fruity sound, animated from which one emerges something little stunned.

Well, TIME'S FORGOTTEN has released a little gem that it would be good to listen to again from time to time given the creative energy deployed in it.