ARS PRO VITA

The Venegas Brothers set up a big circus inviting many musicians from all over the world to speak on the theme of War. To name just one, Jon Camp, former Renaissance bassist. No prog addict could exist without knowing this guy. And a group of Brazilian singers with correct pronunciation and beautiful voices. I only know how to call this work a masterpiece (!!!). My God, 147 minutes!!! It is impossible to review the entire work, and I must mention some additional details. Being a double album that evolved in history, we traveled in time and the world with Luis and Paulo Venegas. In the first CD painful moments like the Wounded Knee massacre, the horrors of the women of Auschwitz and the atom bomb. On the second CD we find the modern war and the problem of landmines, sung by the Blackheart Orchestra duo (Chryssy Mostyn's voice is almost a Kate Bush) the killer drones and the memory of Srebrenica. Interesting addition of ethnic themes and instruments that accompany this work. The male voices I was able to identify as the brothers remind me a lot of a young Peter Gabriel and his current huskier voice. This is an interesting detail. Luis has a sweeter and more melodic voice. Paulo has power and a delicious hoarseness. They're not from the Island, but deserve a positive commentary. I just wonder where Ars Pro Vita's next job is going. Just to make it clear, Peace is a masterpiece.

Given the only previous review of this album was so eloquent and a glowing recommendation I launched into a monster 2 hours+ in eager anticipation. I so wanted to love it. But wow. I can't.

They've clearly put a huge amount of effort into this, as they state on their Bandcamp page for the album, two years looking into historical events from the last 130 years on the war and peace theme, pulling it all together into a huge concept album. Thing is if you're going to take on a topic this huge, the music needs to have some depth. Perhaps a because of wanting to stay true to the absolute facts they've researched, and maybe a little due to writing lyrics in a second language, it's all just too literal, too on the nose.

Lyrics such as: "It's a very hot day In a damn warm country Ireland has a mild weather, even cold But not so cold as what's going on in the world"

And: "I am a drone pilot, bloodless killing from a very safe distance Even without really flying, where it looks like a video game If I go down, I'll ask for a new toy"

There's always some leeway that needs to be given when a band from one country writes songs in another (hell, if you asked me to write a song in Portuguese imagine the rotten nonsense that would follow after I just shove it into Google translate and hope for the best). But unfortunately what's happened here is an album that should be thought provoking and stir emotion just becomes frustratingly simplistic to me. And I think it's because the concept itself is absolutely spot on, its all the more frustrating that it hasn't been done justice for me.

I can't give it 1 star with the sheer effort that's gone into it but I can't give it much more. And I've never been so disappointed in myself for rating an album poorly.

Like Precious Gems Strewn Upon a Brute Battle-Ground

The Waltzes

The waltz, that sublime dance, those graceful whirls and gentle-men, bowing, acknowledging the gowned belles, then going off only to return...

Seeded through the carnage of brothels of Auschwitz, the trenches of World War Eternal, the children given guns and drugs so they can kill and continue and kill and continue...

In This Bloody Scream

The jarring contrast between the magisterial sweeps of symphonic progressive music and the evil-incarnate of men in suits and power ties adding up their billions, the women leaning in and cutting up the pie baked in human flesh, armaments, mines, drones-

This Bloody Scream

PEACE!

We are masters and mistresses of hate, murder, corruption, greed, lust, torture, and destruction. We humans have studied it, turned it inside out, identified it as hell, as 'war is hell', as endless insanity: War is Peace.

The brothers of ARS PRO VITA (Art For Life) and their assembled cast of musicians and spokes-people have assembled the kind of musical tapestry that thread by thread weaves the madness of war upon the loom of untold trillions of ready cash generated by some unholy force, and traced by the sinews and limbs of young women and men, grandmothers and grandfathers, widows, orphans, slowly or quickly losing what little they once may have had.

147 Minutes

A very long time for the listener accustomed to less intense, more succinct fare, progressive or otherwise.

Yet a very short time in the overall catalogue of horrors known to humanity if one considers the sweep of centuries, and the battles and conflicts and wars and engagements that have engulfed this blistered, frozen planet.

147 minutes of musical loveliness, sublime skill, artful lyrics, spoken words, cinematic sounds and effects from around the globe, and with the maximum effect, challenging us with every note, every sound, every effect, to consider, to feel, to cringe, to LOOK and to HEAR what humans perpetrate upon humans.

Like a Cry from the Heart

Perhaps you, like so many seem to do, worship the god of war, thrill to the battle march, the soldiers in formation, the thin patriotism that thanks for their service and turns away when they return broken and scarred- and perhaps you can remain untouched, perhaps even offended by this stunning cry from the heart.

I cannot.

The waltzes alone, strewn as they are in the mud and the blood, demand attention.

For me, this is essential: a masterpiece of progressive rock music, and excellent addition to ANY music collection.