CROMA

During my weekly surfing on the Spanish progressive rock sites, I discovered this wonderful album by UNOMA. The prime mover and musical brain is guitarplayer Fidel Vazquez. He has a beautiful, very warm sound and his compositions are varied featuring lots of good musical ideas. Let's take the album song by song. 1) "Croma" 5:42 - This is a tasteful arrangement with a pleasant mellow atmosphere featuring twanging electric guitar, piano, a synthesizer solo and beautiful, very sensitive electric guitarwork in the vein of Andy LATIMER from CAMEL. 2) "Black hole 8:50 - The first and final part contain a slow rhythm delivering sensitive, howling electric guitar soli and an organ solo. Halfway there is a break with sensational synthesizer flights and a fiery, MIKE OLDFIELD inspired guitar solo. 3) "The bird" 4:32 - Great electric guitar overdubs featuring twanging guitar and slightly distorted soli. 4) "Magic tour" 6:10 - It opens with a slow rhythm delivering soaring strings and spacey synthesizer sounds. Then a lot of shifting moods and very spectacular guitarwork (jazzy, heavy riffs and howling soli) and sensational synthesizer runs. 5) "In the name of God" 14:52 - This epic composition contains English vocals (a kind of soulful version of Peter GABRIEL) and has many fluent changing of climates, from warm an slow till bombastic featuring pitchbend-driven synthesizer flights, fine piano - and organplay and sensitive electric guitar soli (with echoes from Andy LATIMER ). The final part has a fiery, very moving electric guitar solo.

This showcases the great skills from Fidel Vazquez, a very talented guitarplayer and composer. If you like CAMEL, MIKE OLDFIELD and the music of early GANDALF this CD deserves a change.

Unoma is the name of guitarist Fidel Vázquez's musical vision. This is not an exclusively solo effort, strictly speaking, since the collaboration of Pito Costa on keyboards, bass and drum programming proves vital for the building of the repertoire's various melodic schemes and moods. This is the essential resource that allowed the material comprised in "Croma" to achieve its most climatic moments. The album kicks off with the namesake track, a soft piece that goes from slow to mid tempo while the simplistic main motif is solidly preserved: Vázquez gives preference to texture and harmony, which allows the keyboard layers and ornaments to fill an important role in the track's development. 'Black Hole' states a more dominant role for the lead guitar, comprising a strange yet effective mixture of Satriani and Hackett: the hooks of the main melodic line and the emergence of an effective 7/8 interlude compose the right frame for the aforesaid Satriani-Hackett confluence. 'The Bird' is very melancholic, arguably the most reflective composition in the album: it's really beautiful, not too complex but successful in mood and ambience from a genuine prog rock point of view. This piece reminds me a bit of early Eclat or early Edhels: dynamic yet not too intrepid symphonic rock with a very modern vibe and new-age flirtations. 'Magic Tour' is arguably the best structured piece in terms of melodic development and guitar-keyboard interaction. The lead guitar phrases are catchy, while the keyboard input is flawless when it comes to coming to the frontline or staying in the background. This is perhaps what a Rothery solo album would sound like, or an old Marillion demo from the mid-80s before Fish records his written lyrics. I hope the simile was clear. 'In the Name of God' is the longest track in the album, occupying the last near-15 minutes. It is epic in intention and structure, starting with a melodic excursion that may remind us of late-70s Genesis with a touch of Camel. During some of the guitar solos, Vázquez strays to jazz-rock territories, which makes sense with the fusion-oriented percussive arrangements that emerge at some point. The sung section sounds like a mixture of slow R'n'B and "A Curious Feeling"-era Tony Banks. At the 10'30" mark, a bombastic interlude gets in a solidly epic note, but unfortunately ends too soon; on the other hand, an emotional guitar solo and a pompous synth lead follow in order to partially retake the incomplete bombast. The idea goes on to the end, marking a family air with Hackett-era Genesis plus a touch of ELP. While not excellent, "Croma" is a beautiful, emotionally intense album that will surely please all symphonic prog and neo-prog devotees - this is what Unoma was all about for the debut album.

Unoma is basically a name chosen by Barcelona-based guitarist Fidel Vazquez, under which he performs from early-00's.Vasquez was helped by Pi-2 members, keyboardist Pito Costa (he also took over the bass duties) and singer Alex Warner, along with drummer Lluis Ribalta.A couple of guests helped Vaszquez on a pair of guitar performances and this was the Unoma team, which released the album ''Croma'' in 2003, distributed by Musea Records.

The eponymous track is a sensitive and warm exploration of guitar melodies and delicate piano lines in a very melancholic mood, followed by another instrumental piece, the 9-min. ''Black Hole'', dominated by a strong CAMEL-esque influence and featuring good and smooth guitar solos along with sharp synthesizers in a great contrast.''The bird'' shows no signs of change.Vasquez'es playing recalls the style of ANDY LATIMER, this time supported by somec electronic loops.The most jazzy-influenced performance of Vasquez comes with ''Magic tour'', his touch has a great SANTANA influence on the opening notes with synthesizers adding an atmospheric dimension, soon to become a soundscape full of powerful groovy guitars and flashy synths.A nice combination of Latin Jazz-Rock and groovy Heavy Prog.Of course the most demanding composition is the 15-min. ''In the name of God''.A great combination of vintage Prog, Neo/Symphonic Rock and Lounge music with some energetic performances on guitars, synths and organs along with the most dynamic performance of the rhythm section, filled both with grandieur and emotion.This is also the only composition featuring some vocals.

A nice proof of Vasquez guitar talent but also another nice example of Pi-2's keyboardist Pito Costa accomplished skills.Good, mostly instrumental prog, for fans of refined melodies and atmospheric soundscapes.Recommended.