570.KYTHERA

Sarax's third album find the band turned into a quartet, and in the process, augmenting the doses of energy and diversity in their own progressive style. This album is a conceptual follow-up to their previous effort "Ejecución": this time, our executed prisoner's soul is reincarnated into a resident in an asteroid that is soon to meet its conflagration. The ideas of constantly dying and not being really captains of our own ships fit perfectly the main character's recurrent frustration, which in turn, meets a most accurate correlation in the band's sonic angst. With the entry of guitarist Nicolás Figueroa, a lifelong friend and collaborator, the band's style wasn't actually changed but, as I stated before, enhanced in terms of a greater intensity in the instrumentation and a major colorfulness in the arrangements and adornments instilled in the musical ideas. This surely helps to enhance the cinematographic nature of the repertoire, making it a real musical narrative. The band's increased tightness is easily noticeable all along: right after the brief cosmic prologue 'Aparecen', comes 'Zirok', a bizarre calypso-meets- grunge number with a 90s-era KC twist, followed by the somber prog metal- tinged 'Pirrón'. With the next two pieces, 'La Oración de Glorio' and 'Pesadillas Makronas', things don't get smoother precisely, both being robust hybrids of space- rock and heavy metal, full of neurotic vibes: but never as neurotic as the ultra- aggressive 'Eventos en el POK', a sort of punk-meets-prog, somewhat similar to the legendary Cynic. 'Los Cachos de la Tormenta' is more ethereal, although still portraying an uneasy aura. 'Boicoteando el Propulsor' is indeed more serene: despite the underlying heavy guitar riffs, the Arabic synth lines take center stage, creating some sort of evocative mood. After the brief serene interlude 'Deliberando' (a tribute to old-fashioned 60s beat), comes 'Escapando de Iarkos', in which the stamina of hard rock, the exuberance of jazz and the standardized intricacy of prog metal get mixed in a fluid manner. The almost 5- minute long 'Fiesta Final' kind of recapitulates the somber and the rocking facets of the album, adding again some good dose of jazzy exuberance to the fold. These two tracks are arguably the richest and most complex in the album: sometimes I wish they had been expanded a bit longer, but anyway... The last two tracks are brief keyboard-based soundscapes, which sound obviously related to the previous album's closure: evidently, this is a hint of a future continuity in the extravagant saga of the Pirrón character. Overall balance: excellent album, indeed - "570.Kythera" surpasses the high standards of experimentation in rock as they had been set in "Ejecución", and so, we can say that Sarax is one of the most outstanding 'unclassifiable' prog acts nowadays.

SARAX are an experimental band from Chile who go from heavy KING CRIMSON / RUSH like soundscapes to spacey, atmospheric moods in a blink of an eye. This is a concept album that is a continuation from their previous record "Ejecucion". Although the vocals are not in English they do give English lyrics in the liner notes, as well as a story line in English even with the instrumental tracks. I am such a big fan of this style of music that combines heavy soundscapes with spacey,atmospheric passages.

"They Appear" is a short eerie, spacey intro. This sounds amazing played loud. "Zirok" has vocals and 60's sounding organ melodies.The vocals turn theatrical as the heaviness comes and goes. "Pirron" might be my favourite with the TOOL-like drumming as the guitars grind away.This is nice and heavy with deep vocals. Some ripping guitar follows, this sounds incredible ! This is 5 minutes of heavy guitar driven bliss. "Glorio's Prayer (Resent II)" continues the assault for over a minute before it settles down with piano and spoken words. The heaviness returns and the guitar after 2 1/2 minutes is fantastic ! Some nice angular melodies.This is heavy ! "Boycoting The Propulsor" opens with some brief spoken words before grinding guitar and heavy drums take over. Check out the rhythm section 1 1/2 minutes in. Spoken words close out the song after the heaviness stops. "Makronas Nightmares" opens with a haunting atmosphere as bass, piano, synths and cymbals play slowly. The heaviness and vocals arrive reminding me of BI KYO RAN. The contrast continues.Some scorching guitar 3 minutes in.

"Events At Kop(Mother Spider)" is an uptempo tune with fast paced drumming. Great guitar and vocals too. "Storm's Horns" opens with slow paced piano, and the guitar sounds are tremendous. Lots of atmosphere and deep vocals.Very good song. "Deliberating" has a catchy melody of drums and organ. "Iarkos Escape" has some nice fat bass lines with some beautiful lazy guitar melodies. A great instrumental. "Final Party" is a bit of a ride as it opens with vocal melodies and lots of atmosphere before it changes with light drums and piano in a jazzy section. More atmosphere 3 1/2 minutes in as it gets a little creepy with almost death-like vocals as well. "Cristalized" features slowly played piano with synths in the background while the album ends with the very short "Monologue" that has some spoken words with dissonant sounds.

I know this isn't everybody's cup of tea, but i'll have the whole pot thank you. Highly recommended album and band.