ZYCLOPE

If prog music is an ecumene, there's a rarely visited continent there. Not a sort of 'det nye kontinent', no, it's not new, it was discovered long ago. But researchers never paid too much attention to it, and there were not too many researchers. Who docked down its coast during last decades? For example, Opus Avantra back in 1989. But they were mostly sunbathing near their camp and did not move too far from it. Then, Cro Magnon back in 1992 - they walked through local woods all the time and enjoyed their walks. Who else? Seven Reizh visited the continent four times (in 2001, 2006, 2015 and 2018), and had a good time scaling the topography of the shorelines on foot. As for Zyclope, they focused on surveying the interior mountainous areas of the continent. They published three reports about their survey, and looks like the first one attracted almost no interest and inspired no confidence in the audience. Too unusual results? Or maybe only a few really got inside the matter?

This second album from "Zyclope" is no real improvement in comparison of their debut "Uno".

Vocals are rather average and passionless (even if sung in Spanish), melodies are rather weak and great songs are absent from most of this album. "Contracorriente" is a bundle of short compositions with little feeling to tell the truth.

I am desperately looking for some vibes in here. And the neo-heavy "Praga" is not the type of track that can change my mind although it can be considered as one of the best here (somewhat Tull reminiscent). This Spanish band is definitely not playing great music. At times, some fine violin is highlighting the whole, but these moments are just too scarce to be convincing.

The most complex and interesting song from this average album is "Catarsis". It features splendid violin, a great band cohesion, and intricate passages. If only more of this type would have been featured!

Unfortunately, right after a good track, one has to endure some pop-prog of the poorest vein with "Días de Vino". And the ballad "Fuego Intenso" won't add anything to my passion for this band. Still, the closing guitar solo is one of the best part of this album.

The music presented is at times quite decent ("Luna Llena") but globally, it is of little enchantment to my ears. Creativity is just next door IMHHO.

The best of this album resides in its closing number ("Lástima por el mundo"): moving keys and some famous vocalized parts combined with a subtle and melodic guitar work is by far the best achievement of the band so far.

Two stars.

The opener "Orient Express" is a great piece of intrumental music. Strong keys, violent guitar (reminds me Taï Phong in "Goin' Away") great rythm as well as some flamenco parts. It is the highlight of the CD.

"Merlin" is a sweet (almost classical) melody with a good violin playing. Same applies to "Locura Temporal" while "Viaje a Escocia" ( Trip to Scotland) has some Tull influences (not only due to the flute playing) in the intro section. But little by little the interest of this album decreases : "Notre Damme", "Recorriendo Mundo" are weak tracks. Tull is back again with "Zyclopea".

"Electric Nights" features really bad vocals. Since most of the album is instrumental, they could have skipped vocals completely because the second part of the song is: probably one of the best moment of this CD. With such a title, the next song "Fantasias de Rey Arturo" (King's Arthur Fantasies) sounds legitimately quite medieval.

So, globally, there is nothing wrong with this piece of music : good musicianship, nice melodies at times but too few great moments. Two stars.

Zyclope is a Spanish group that combines flutes and violins to the usual mix of guitar, keys, bass and drums. First off, let's get one thing straight, this is not the find of the century; in fact it's not even on the same level than Spanish group Omni, with some revolting moments here that are difficult to ignore. A poor debut that has a few good ideas that ultimately need a massive dose of spit and tons of polish, a better drummer and perhaps a more creative palate of musical fantasy. "Asesinato en Orient Express." is a clever little opener with various contrasts, some elegant piano from leader Juan Olmos that really sticks out, a buzzing electric guitar that likes to rock and just as easily swerve into flamenco territory, slapped around by a bopping bass and some two-fisted drumming, conveying the impression of a train through Europe. "Merlin" (assuredly the most proggy title anywhere) has a strong violin led melody that chaperones the guitar lead, with axeman Javier Mira supplying some slithering acoustic work as well, a four minute piece that pleases the ear nicely. After a brief "country style" guitar interlude, these hombres decide that a wee little trip to Scotland is called for ("Viaje a Escocia"), a mid- tempo guitar led voyage that has a hint of Celtic underpinnings, some suave violin mixing it up with spirited flute, a rather simplistic drum beat ruins it a bit, being a tad puerile for such an arrangement. From this moment on, very little of the album (only one track) will please the listener. "Notre Damme" (why 2 ms is unclear) is heavily fluted and loaded with hysteric leads, bashed by more of that one-two drum beat from Ernesto Sanchez that just begs for some inventiveness. "Recorrriendo Mundo" sadly provides more of the same, a sense of plodding uniquely due to the metronome tapper, now influencing the fret man to start showing off his skills. Unfortunately, some structure would help, as this is starting to sound like "paint by numbers" prog. When Yasia Shevchenko's violin appears through the marshalling beat on "Zyclopea", there seems to be some kind of spark. Where French band Silver Lining simply shines with a violin-led style of symphonic arrangement, here somehow, it lacks conviction. "Locura Temporal" is heavily orchestrated, almost classical and is probably the craftiest slice of talent displayed here, with sound trackish feel, a stroke of genius. Unfortunately, the 4 remaining tracks have nothing really distinguishing about them, a pot-pourri of semi-cooked ideas that can frankly fall smack into ridicule like the pseudo-heavy "Electrickal Night"(penned by our drum meister) that verges on the farcical, complete with a laughable guitar solo that is pure Cheesezilla . Yet , both "Fantasias del Rey Arturo" and medieval companion "En El Corte" offer only slight glimpses of hope, both ruined by some Steve Vai-like attempts that have no place here whatsoever. "Feeling Your Breath" is a repulsive finale that leaves a rather poor taste in the mouth, with a ghastly accented vocal that spells fiasco. Beautiful cover though. Like the Cyclops, this has one starry eye.