RODRIGO SAN MARTIN

This album is advertised as an 8D audio experience that should be enjoyed with headphones, and having gone through its entirety more than once, I can totally understand why. A lot of the music's charm and authenticity comes from its ability to disconnect you from reality and drag you into its own world and imagery, and the headphones experience is crucial in this. There is such a refined and detailed approach to the sonic dynamics, with all sorts of panning effect, sound design, various elements moving in and out of focus that it fully surrounds you. I assume that is also what the 8D audio refers to. It's a truly immersive, unique and surreal experience. On to the music.

The opening track 'Ouroboros (Prelude)' gives you a good dose of just about everything you're gonna encounter in this album. It's a 22-minute composition and it shows elements of prog rock, classical music and various forms of world music, moving from more organic, natural textures to more hi-fi modern sounds and back again. Then, each of the coming tracks seems to take a certain influence as its central theme.

On the prog front, we are presented with an immersive sound, both striking and atmospheric. None of the instruments seems to flash out at any point, despite consistent impressive passages. The guitar riffs have a slightly fuzzy sound, not very penetrating but rather more melodic and textured. The bass has a lot of presence, often coming through stronger than the guitars but also being maintained in a slightly softened manner, and the same could be argued about the drums. The drum parts are very complex, fast, progressive and technically challenging showing a lot of energy in playing. I would say the band performance is quite intense but it is contained in the mix so that it still feels strongly atmospheric. This allows the sound to be both engaging and relaxing, making it work both for an active audition and for background mood-setting music.

When it comes to classical influences, it really goes all the way. The Mbabane Philharmonic Orchestra plays a huge part in the cinematic effect of the music. The sound is often very similar to actual classical music and there are many moments when the orchestra really takes hold in full, with everything else going silent, and you're listening to actual symphonic music. There's even a prog-rock interpretation of Vivaldi's 'The Storm' where both orchestra and band really show off their talent, giving a refreshed face to the classic.

Further influences take a trip around the world, giving us various folk and acoustic sounds on string instruments, wind instruments and various forms of percussion. The second track, 'The Eternal Fire (Ritual)' has a strong tribal vibe with fast percussion and lots of sound effects to paint a scene, voices in the background, chanting but also some electronic effects that weirdly seem to fit right in. 'Mother (Takeda Lullaby)' is a Japanese folk ballad (in Japanese) with delicate acoustic sounds and ethereal female vocals. 'Lindisfarne (Ramund)' is an epic folk cinematic track in Norwegian with a stronger orchestra component. And 'The Minstrel (Burn the Witch)' has a slightly medieval maiden vibe. Every song takes you somewhere else and does it in a different way. And each has a few main themes that are very memorable, my favourite being the one in 'Sinfonía Arcana', an instrumental prog symphonic track. Through all these songs, focused on a different vibe and imagery, the prog sounds, guitar riffs and leads and technical drum passages keep finding their way in and creating some really cool contrasting blends.

There's a lot of personnel here, making this album sound like a prog infused soundtrack rather than a regular album. Rodrigo himself played everything from guitar, bass and keyboard to things like flute and recorder. Then we have quite a number of vocalists and various instrumentalists on violins, sax, trumpet and many instruments I didn't even know existed. Overall, it's a unique and impressive creation, hard to place in any genre but mainly relying on prog rock, classical music, world folk music and soundtrack.

Originally written for The Progspace: https://theprogspace.com/rodrigo-san-martin-arcana-act-1/

Mystery and Music

It's always a risk- and Argentine multi-instrumentalist RODRIGO SAN MARTIN appears to be a risk-taker- to start one's album with a 5 Star epic track.

Had that been the entirety of "Arcana (Act 1)"- which of course suggests there may be more to come- this review would have been an awed, impressed patch of fulsome paragraphs describing why and how this reviewer came to this conclusion.

Concept

Arcana (Act 1) explores the golden thread in spirituality and in life- which at least to me means music. RODRIGO explores this golden thread through various ancient and more modern civilizations and folk traditions, ending with his "Sinfonia Arcana", a combination of orchestral music and filled out with the accoutrements of rock music.

Throughout the album, beginning with the astonishing "Ouroboros (Prelude)", a variety of mostly female voices in several languages, express this golden thread, either in chants, wordless vocalizing, or singing.

Ouroboros

This one deserves some attention, for I believe it to be magnificent. At least in my opinion momentum slows and the rest of the album varies in interest and scope, after this opening track.

The cycle of life, the symbol of infinity with the dragon- or serpent- swallowing its own tail- is the concept upon which the rest of the album is built. RODRIGO pulls out all the stops, with a busy, ebullient opening with rumbling bass and bright keyboards- and very active drumming.

This track is characterized by tight, well-wrought composition comprising sophisticated meter and mood changes. The gentle guitar chords introduce hushed, breathy vocals and there is growing intensity, which then subsides. We hear muted trumpet crying, and (I'm not a drummer) bongos? are ushered in.

There are some jazz-fusion passages, and lovely female vocals- the music builds and we transition into a folk-tinged, flute-led passage. Then what's this? Majestic cathedral organ signals change! Ferocious drumming kicks in and a magisterial passage erupts. Melody is a real strength, and RODRIGO's guitar work is pretty fine.

Ethnic/Folk Cultures

Each of the rest of the tracks give voice to a panoply of traditions, often with folk instruments and varied languages, ranging from ancient tribal drumming and sounds, to the more modern.

It is definitely a point of interest and strength to see the vast array of musicians and musical styles RODRIGO has assembled- just check out the astonishing list of participants and instruments. Most of these were fine to excellent musicians, while the compositions themselves ranged from fairly simplistic to sophisticated.

Almost all were augmented with RODRIGO's progressive rock touches and instrumentation, with varying success.

Successes

For me, the lively "The Eternal Fire" with didgeridoo and lots of tribal drumming and chants was riveting. "Hurrian Hymn to Nikhal" was appropriately exotic and haunting, and both boasted fine female vocals. "Mother" was a sweet lullaby with lovely Japanese (?) vocals.

Less So

"Lindisfarne (Ramund)" had some nice Gaelic ambience and fiddle/guitar interplay, yet didn't grip me. "The Minstrel (Burn the Witch)" featured some female vocals that I thought showed some intonation problems- and in general too I thought some of the lyrics and voices got lost sometimes in the mix.

"L'Estate (Storm) was a vibrant, short re-interpretation of a section of Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons", and certainly moved along- yet seemed a little misplaced on this album. "Gobi" had its charms with wistful and mystical keyboard chords, moving into haunting vocalizings.

Anticlimax

For me the closing track was anticlimactic- perhaps because of the wondrous album opener. "Sinfonia Arcana" featured orchestration, yet the main theme seemed fairly insipid, even with the baroque flourishes and rock instrumentation added in. It wasn't bad, nor was it terrific.

Sum it Up

Great respect to the multi-talented RODRIGO SAN MARTIN, to the golden thread concept, to the amount and scope of work that this album represents. There's a lot to like here.

There's also the matter of some pacing problems, with the huge open that then becomes much more ordinary. I think it merits 3.5 stars. Good...better than good...not yet excellent.

The music and performances are top notch, like the rest of the Rock Opera, and the depressive feeling we are left is heartbreaking. It's a tragedy, there was no other way.

Stylistically this is a very diverse offering: from typical rock, to acoustic ballads, funky sections and symphonic metal tracks, all mixed together in the typical progressive style of Maestro San Martín.

1 - Lost: we start with a familiar feeling. This is the most "Rodrigo San Martín" sounding track on the album, genrewise. It's a short song (under 3 minutes), but features many elements that characterize the artist tyícal "sound": strong vocal melodies, nice motif development (from themes that appeared on the previous parts of this rock opera), great instrumental work (featuring electric guitar and a nice mellotron section), incisive lyrics and a contrast between soft and powerful sections. So many elements (this time compressed in under 3 minutes) make a great opener for this last part of The Veil is Broken.

2 - On the Road: at the end of The Veil is Broken III: Coming of Age we were left on the point where, Robin (our prog rocker protagonist) sold himself to the machine and became a pop sensation. Here we have a direct continuation of that: the lyrics tell us how immensly rich and famous he has became, how his insane life on the road is, what he has done with his fortune, etc

How is this topic presented musically? By a typical Arena rock song, with pre recorded crowd and drum solo included included, to simulate a live performance.

It's something completely different from anything we've heard on a Rodrigo San Martín album and it's actually quite good, if you have an open mind and want some diversity in your prog rock.

The lyrics also reveal that Robin is really unhappy and "empty inside" now that he has fulfilled his dreams of stardom.

3 - Summer: this is a beatiful acoustic piece with some very sad lyrics that deepen the existencial crisis our protagonist is in. It's curious the selection of Craig Kerley on vocals here, since he is prominently known for his powerful heavy metal vocals, but the result is fantastic.

The instrumental pallete is minimal: acoustic guitar, bass, flute and some tasteful mellotron.

4 - There's No Way Out: this is basically a Nightwish song on a Rodrigo San Martín album. Lyrical vocals are masterfully done by Canela Sol once more (like she did on Incomplete), with Charlie Giardina singing the chorus.

It is powerful, melodic, heavy and features stellar instrumentation. And it's not something you would expect on a Rodrigo San Martín album once again.

5 - Meant to Be: another small little acoustic ballad, this time sung by Giardina (and with beatiful backing vocals by Canela Sol on the chorus). Not prog by a million years. The lyrics start getting more upbeat on this one: it seems our protagonist has reconected with his lost love from his teenange years.

It may be a little bit too much on the cheesy-happy side for my taste, but on the depressive level the last few tracks were carrying this one feels like a cup of water on the desert.

6 - Unleashed: and things went badly for Robin once more. This one is almost a direct reprise from the "part 1" track Lost Out. It features piano much more prominently and features a killer solo from Mr. San Martín. Nice way to recall more familiar grounds, that immense chorus needed some exposure! (it couldn't just appear once on the whole album)

7 - Like There's No Tomorrow: this is a weird one. Is it some funk/heavy prog song? Is that even a thing?

Influences on this track appear to be Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jethro Tull, Metallica and Pink Floyd, all mixed together.

It's very good and it's the most progressive track on section 4: great work by drummer Mike Buenaventura Lima and amazing vocal performance by Osvaldo Mellace.

8 - Time to Realize You'll Never Open Your Eyes: the album closes with a small acoustic piece featuring both male a female singers. It's astonishingly sad and beautiful, but a little underwhelming considering it's the ending to a 2 hour long piece of conceptual prog rock.

I signed up on this site to review this immense conceptual work Rodrigo San Martin promised us. I've reviewed the four sections that comprise the rock opera but I feel my work is not complete.

Rodrigo San Martín messed up: he should've released the whole thing as a whole, it's clear he composed it to be one two hour long piece of music (and if you add that the album was written to be played in random and have all the songs segue into each other in every possible order, more so).

I rate this last section four stars, but I think the four parts considered as a whole album, are undounteldly one of Argentina's finest prog offerings of the 21st century.

San Martín chose to rely on his strenghts: the long songs. And he wrote his longest to date. A Lullaby for Mankind is a one song album much in the vein of Thick as a Brick, but it was divided into 18 shorter tracks.

To back him up on this ambitious project he chose a few recurring figures from his latest album (Jelena Perisic and Fernando Refay) and a few new faces: Osvaldo Mellace on vocals, Robert Lynch on Bass and Michael Black on drums.

The result is fantastic but the album was, mostly, overlooked even on the argentine prog scene and I can't understand why. Maybe the attention was drawn into Vanished from Earth. Maybe it was because the album was never presented live (and up to this day San Martin has never performed any music from A Lullaby for Mankind). Maybe it was because of it's deeply antireligious content. Or maybe it was just because the promotion was non existent. Playing the whole album on a radio station was impossible, and the 18 tracks in which it was divided where not really independent enough to work well on their own. Eyes, on the other hand, has very strong short songs that were completely independent of the bulk of the album and that worked fantastic as singles.

1 - A Lullaby for Mankind I (Intro): instrumental introduction to the album featuring some amazing keyboard passages by Fernando Refay, as well as guitar solos and riffs by Mr. San Martín. This is a typical Sanmartinian overture (like Chao's Obertura and The Veil is Broken's Before my Eyes), featuring many passages that would be developed later on the album. At least it seems that way in retrospect, but it's the first time this compositional technique (which would be much more polished on future releases) appears on a Rodrigo San Martín album.

2 - A Lullaby for Mankind II: the first vocal piece (sung by the lovely Jelena Perisic, one of San Martín's main partners in crime) is a nice acoustic section with a slown buildup and a steady rhythm. The melodies, as expected, are deeply beautiful and are the focal point here.

3 - The Sky Falls Down: the electric guitar and hammond organ make an entrance, followed by the powerful vocals of Osvaldo Mellace (who is considered the Argentine Greg Lake, in my country). Here the album starts taking a metallic Jethro Tull sound and we are presented with a great guitar solo.

4 - The Masterplan: after the storm we are faced with the calm once more. A beautiful guitar arpeggio over which Mellace sings a heartfelt melody. The melodic bass work by Mr Robert Lynch is the centerpiece of the first section of this track. The second part of it is comprised of a crescendo revolving around a vocal line sung by both Mellace and Perisic that is breathtaking.

5 - Intermission I: when we think we would have a resolution to the beautiful crescendo of the last piece we are interrupted by this short jazzy interlude which the band pulls with grace and groove. San Martín guitar sounds like Pat Metheny and Refay's piano solo puts him up there with the best keyboardists in Argentina. Nice Walk section in a weid time signaure at the end.

6 - The Dark Ages: this section sounds like San Martín's first albums. It's dark prog metal, filled with strange time signatures and mellotron, the hindu vocal intersections by Perisic and the synth solos have the trademark Sanmartinian sound. It's odd that the chorus itself, sung by Mellace, was chosen to be calm rather tan continue the power that came before and after. Great track, one of the best parts of the album. Kudos to Mr Refay once more for his excelent moog solos.

7 - Colonization: how can you follow such an epic number? By doing something completely different. Colonization is a flamenco piece sung in spanish by Mellace (about the conquest of the Americas) and has San Martin kick ass (Paco de Lucia style) on the nylon string guitar, as well as a terrific piano solo by Refay.

8 - Intermission II: a nice bass riff by Mr Lynch is followed by another grand hammond solo by Fernando Refay. This is a great rock intermission before...

9 - A Lullaby for Mankind III: the reexposition of the themes from track two. The crescendo from track four comes as well, but this time it's not interrupted by anything and flourishes beautifully into a Grand Prog Climax featuring San Martin´s trademark epic guitar sound (reminiscent of his own Con los Ojos Abiertos). This is the moment of the piece we have been teased and when it actually arrives is just fantastic.

10 - Two Children are Born: Pinkfloydish ambient sounds, Oldfieldean piano riff and crazy interruptions by the band in full power that make you jump off your seat.

11 - He's Here: this one reminds me of pre-The Yes Album Yes. Verse sung by Perisic and Mellace over a moving rhythm, chorus sung by both. There's a flute intersection presenting one important melody that would become recurrent on the album, and a terrific solo, once again, by Rodrigo San Martín, where he showscases both his clean and distorted sounds. There is also a Tull vibe somewhere in there.

12 - No One Knew: ALL CHANGE. Groovy bass, electronic drums and rhodes chords over which Mellace sings sensually. The chorus is completely different: acoustic guitar, string arrangements, mellotron and Jelena Perisic singing a precious melody. What's keeping this giant song together since it features so many different styles? The fantastic development of the core themes, that appear thruought all the album, giving logic and consistence to the Song as a whole.

13 - Mass: a perfect example of what I was saying. Rodrigo manages to pull of a gregorian chant section, sung by Canela Sol (who will appear much more in later albums), how does he does this? Well the main theme from Colonization appears, not in a flamenco style this time, but played in a moog synthesizer and backed by a church organ (making it sound completely logical after the gregorian a capella chant).

14 - The Sky Falls Down II: the vocal piece from track three appears, this time sung by Jelena Perisic instead of Mellace, and it's followed by crazy solos by San Martín and Refay.

15 - For Everyone to See: A weird waltz (in an odd time signature) sung by the always lovely Perisic. The polyphonic section at the end sounds like Queen.

16 - We Will Drown in a Sea of Ignorance Until We Evolve Into Something That Can Turn It To Oxygen I: the track turns rockier once more witha strong guitar and flute riff. Nice vocal line delivered by Perisic.

17 - We Will Drown in a Sea of Ignorance Until We Evolve Into Something That Can Turn It To Oxygen II: All the intensity that has been building since the beggining finds it's climax here as the bands let's all it's power loose in an instrumental track featuring the virtuosic duel between moog and guitar.

18 - Coda: after the progressive explosion of the previous track we are left in creepy fade out where San Martín plays in his trademark Gilmour style over the piano riff from track 10. The album ends in a sad manner and it's beauitiful.

So, did San Martín manage to beat his own Eyes? I don't really know. He did manage to pull off the one song album and showed a remarkable inspiration to do something so different but still being in touch with his own sound (that had come to perfection in the preevious album)

Like all this guy's discopgrahy, it's free on bandcamp.

San Martin has stated in interviews that the third and fourth part of the album could happen as they're told, or they could simply be one of Robin's escapes into his own minds to protect himself.

What's told here is that after the death of his friend Robin leaves his prog band and takes the offer (made in part 2) to go solo as a pop artist. He sells out and becomes a pop phenomenon. The whole part 3 (Coming of Age) is about this moral choice.

Like expected, Rodrigo San Martin kept his promise. The five tracks from part three fuse work perfectly and fuse into any of the ten songs we already had from parts 1 and 2. All fifteen tracks can be played in any order and any song flows into the next.

So what about the music? It's amazing.

1 - The Veil is Broken: the 12 minute title track of the Rock Opera strikes a personal nerve on the argentine prog public since it adresses an event that marked a generation by fire. In 1982 Argentina and England engaged in a war for the Malvinas Islands. As you can imagine a confrontation between two uneven forces only had one result.

In Rodrigo San Martín's Rock Opera this war has a deep impact on Robin, the protagonist, whose dear and only friend John dies. This is THE TURNING POINT in the whole story since Robin relied on John to keep him grounded to reality.

The track starts with the audio from defacto president Galtieri declaring war on England and the whole crowd in Plaza de Mayo, excited as hell, chanting "Juremos con gloria morir" (which is a part of Argentina'as national anthem and means " we swear to die gloriously"). In those days Argentina was ruled by force by a millitary government (the one that killed 30000 people because they opposed them) and they sent children between the ages of 18 and 20 to fight the war. The result was catastophic. The ones that made it alive were scared for life.

Rodrigo's lyrics are very deep, thoughtful and sad. The subject is very polemic up to this day on my country. He focuses on the personal side of the conflict, and pictures the event as the last desperate attempt of the military government to control it's population by finding "a common enemy". He reflects on the brainwashing of the crowds, who excitedly chant for their own imminent death and the pointlessnes of it all. It's not that the cause was not fair (Malvinas are actually on argentine territory), it's that it could've been done via diplomacy, and this uneven and desperate war would never be the answer.

Robin, the protagonist loses his mind and his one an only friend and is a clear reflection of his own generation.

Enough about context. The music is absolutely breathtaking and perfectly portrays all the emotions and situations characteristic of such a somber and important theme. Here we have everything: Deeply sad melodies sung by Canela Sol and Charlie Giardina, emotional guitar solos by Maestro San Martín, prog metal, acoustic sections, tremendous choruses, you name it you have it. Special note must be taken to the instrumental crescendo that builds from a piano solo by Refay to the most amazing instrumental duel in a section that clearly represents the battlefield.

Incredible track.

2 - My Time is Gone: the second one is completely different. An acoustic crescendo piece sung my Osvaldo Mellace with backing vocals from Sol that kind of reminds me of Solsbury Hill. This is not unintentional, as Rodrigo has stated in many interviews this simillitude in "style" with Gabriel's song to represent various things: Robin is obsessed with Peter Gabriel and is actually considering leaving his prog band to go solo, the lyrics don't only reflect about that but the use of his quotes from the prog genre (specially The Lamb, which is Gabriel/Rael's epic journey to find his very own John, who turns out to be himself) mimic the character own personal lost on the track that went before. This is very smart and it made me think of the whole subtext that I've been missing on the lyrics on the first and second part of the Rock Opera.

The result is simply beautiful. It is clearly one of my favourite songs from the Rock Opera as a whole.

3 - The Time has Come: a very short metal track that starts with a crazy arrangement and features mainly Craig Kerley's powerful vocals. The chorus is particulary catchy with it's chant "The Time has come and there's nothing I can do or say, the time has come I am Banished from the Earth"

If you're not familiar with argentine prog Vanished from Earth was a prog super group formed by Rodrigo San Martín, Fernando Refay, Mike Buenaventura Lima, Nacho Gulich and Charlie Giardina. The band released their one and only (and great) album in 2013 and split shortly before Rodrigo released the album. 4 out of 5 of the members of the group perform here as well.

I think I'm not overstretching in saying this but the parallel between Rodrigo and Robin is more present than ever here: they both just left their bands to go solo. I never thought about this relationship between composer and character, and it adds a whole new dimension to an already dense sand rich storyline.

To those not immersed in the argentine scene, imagine if Roger Waters had a chorus on his first solo album that went: " I AM PINK FLOYD".

Well, unlike Waters, San Martín continues to work and play with his old bandmates up to this day.

4 - Sellout!: track number four is what the name says it is. Robin sells out and becomes a pop sensation in the 80's. The songs sounds exactly as what it promises: a pop song. Canela Sol sings it beautifully and the song is actually quite good. The lyrics could be about someone breaking up with their significant other, or about a band breaking up. Not really the kind of music I want to listen to in a Rodrigo San Martín album, but I understand it's crucial point in the story.

5 - Absolutely No Commercial Potential: on the other hand this is what I like the most. Rodrigo's long songs are always the highlight of his records and this is no exception. Craig Kerley sings in ful power mode, onde more, on this kind of progressive punk piece. The riffs are great, the melodies fantastic and the solos (again by San Martin and Refay) are to die for, but the best part of the track is the crazy instrumental section around minute 6:43.

Go get this album, it's free on Bandcamp, as well as the rest of the Rock Opera.

The Veil is Broken II: Adolescense, like I said in my previous review, is what made me break the initial disillusion with San Martín's monumental project and opened my eyes to the fantastic underlying themes that live trough the entire piece.

After listening to this section it became much clearer that the Childhood section was much more than I originally thought. Even so I still believe San Martín should've gone with his original plan to release the full two hour rock opera as a whole, without track order, rather than divide it in sections.

1 - Song of 1972: WOW! Rodrigo San Martín must have performed a ritual of some sort to channel the spirit of the 70's into this epic track. This is the point of the story where Robin falls in love with progressive rock (in 1972) and the track is aperfectly done ode to all the classic artists. It starts with a terrific hammond organ intro that reminds of ELP's Tarkus. Tremendous job of keyboardist Fernando Refay, with his amazing solos. One of the main themes of the albuma appears completely deformed on the mellotron just before we head into a beautiful acoustic section that sounds like something Ian Anderson would come up with. The vocals are handled by the always amazing Craig Kerley, in this section showing he can sing the subtle parts as well as he does the most powerful ones. The piano work on the background reminds of Wakeman and the bass is clearly Squire- inspired. The Tull influence continues into rockier territories, even with a cooll guitar duel between Rodrigo's flute and electric guitar. The next section is a rockier tune featuring Kerley's full power and amazing drum work by Mike Buenaventura Lima, remining of Bonzo. Up next we have a weird but truly exciting section where a hammond organ solo and a flute one collide with each other over the main rocker riff of the previous section wich, after wich we are left on the Gentle Giant part of the piece. Rodrigo let loose all of his classic influences and we a are presented with an acapella section full of counterpoint. After this the tremendous duel between Refay's keyboards and San Martín's guitar drive the song with amazing virtuosity (and reminding us of a Howe - Wakeman kind of relationship) to take us to the GRAND FINALE of this amazing epic. Craig Kerley returns with the chorus of the first acoustic section but backed by the full band, that then launches into an amazing guitar solo full of grandeur. It's a clear reference to the ending of Supper's Ready and an amazing one at that.

The references to prog classics are not only musical, but lyrical as well.

Song of 1972 is my favorite Rodrigo San Martín song. An epic so awesome and full of resources, fantastic melodies and musicianship that any fan of prog rock will enjoy immensly.

2 - Incomplete: How can you follow such an amazing retro- inspired track? By doing something completely different. This is a song that is completely new in style to anything Rodrigo has done in all of his previous albums.

The ingredients? Canela Sol's operatic vocals, Fernando Refay's piano and a string arrangement by San Martin.

The result? The most beautiful and unexpected piece of music in argentine prog.

It's this track that makes Canela Sol one of the greatest voices in the whole prog scene.

3 - Auditions: This is a short song rock - pop - proggy song featuring the vocals of Osvaldo Mellace, and much more in a traditional San Martin vein. Great melodies, nice instrumental intro and a memorable chorus that wouldn't be out of place in a Rush album. Like Superstar in the first part of the Rock Opera this song is much more intrincate that we could notice on first listens.

4 - No Destiny: the second ballad of the EP features the emotional vocals of Charlie Giardina and sounds like a power ballad from the 80's. Once again, something completely unexpected from a Rodrigo San Martín album. Not my cup of tea, but I gotta admit it's very well done.

5 - Never: and we are back in prog rock territory after a few tracks of compositional experimentation. Never is a terrific song that has a very clear 70's Rush influence. Rodrigo San Martín's band reduced to a power trio is something to behold and they utilize the extra space left by the lack of keyboards (until needed, in a manner similar to Rush). Both Mike Buenaventura Lima on Drums and San Martín's bass and guitar lines are terrific, and Charlie Giardina's vocals are fantastic.

An edited version of the track was chosen as single for the whole rock opera but it's full version is much more exciting.

Check it out, the album's free on bandcamp.

I was very eager for this Rock Opera which Rodrigo has been teasing his fans for two years now and my first reaction was underwhelmed. He decided to divide his 2 hour album in four parts and I think it was a bad choice.

Not that any of them are bad, they're actually pretty good, but the hype just couldn't be matched.

Let's go back a few years. Rodrigo San Martín released his seminal album Eyes in 2012, the Vanished from Earth debut in 2013 and two absolutely marvelous gems in 2014 called A Lullaby from Mankind and Souls Ingite's Chaos. This is an impressive album streak that was followed by a grand announcement: a 2 hour long rock opera with one particular detail. It wouldn't have a tracklist, it was written to be played in shuffle mode.

All of the 20ish songs would flow into any of the other, creating a giant mega-epic that was meant to be completely different (but always coherent) every time you listened to it.

This is insane, the possibilities, not just by the random mode, but also the posibility to invent the perfect track order for every user. He even mentioned that the story behind this big concept was a mistery the listener had to solve for himself.

So finally, two years after the announcement I had before my eyes the first part of this over-ambitious project. But Rodrigo San Martín changed his mind. He thought that 2 hours of music would be too much for the common audience and split the album in four pieces, representing the four stages of the protagonist's life. Well, there goes the mistery and the customizable of track order...

I couldn't help myself really, after so much hype and anticipation I was presented with only a five song ep (20 minutes) that narrated the childhood of the character, instead of a two hour long mega-epic. This feeling continued after the first few spins. The music is, of course, magnificently composed and performed by Rodrigo and his all star Argentine band (as well as an international guest), but my expectations where too many to be fulfilled. On his behalf I gotta say that his promise was met: any order of the 5 tracks flows into the other four, making a 20 min epic that works in any order.

It was a few months later when Rodrigo released the second part of the Opera (The Veil is Broken II: Adolescence) that things started to make more sense. That section started with a 12 min epic called Song of 1972 that kicked so much ass that had me hypnotized for a few weeks. I listened to it endlessly until I became very familiar with most of it's (ever appearing) details and themes. And then I got it.

I gotta admit that this track was so good that I had never actually listened to the rest of the album, to avoid further let downs. But I finally did it and I was in love with the music. THIS is the Rodrigo San Martín album I was expecting all this years.

So I took note of his original claims and made a playlist with Part One and Part Two of the album and everything suddenly clicked.

The Veil is Broken I: Childhood now made complete sense. I could see the genesis of the musical themes that where developed and intertwined on the Adolescense part, and they where glorious.

The ten songs from the first two segments, once again, followed Rodrigo's original announcement. They all flow into any of the other, and now we can make a 45 minute ever-changing epic.

The release of part three around christmas 2016 only augmented my feelings for the album and I decided to review thw whole damn thing, so I sat down with part one once again and found it deeply beautiful.

1 - Left out: beautiful chorues guitar arppegios over a keyboard drone start the album and we meet Charlie Giardina's emotional vocals narrating the inner struggles of a child who can't find his place in the world so he decides to hide away on his own fantasies. Rodrigo San Martín's compositional skills and melody- crafting are his main abilities and he knows full well how to take advantafe of his strenghts. The final chorus, after a slow and creepy mellotron build up, where backing singer Canela Sol fuses her voice with Giardina's is orgasmic.

2 - Before my Eyes: my opinion on this track have varied a lot over time. The first time I heard it I was excited because the band was playing at full strenght in this instrumental piece, but I found it's lack of a recognizable "form" to be really confusing. No part of this five minute song repites anywhere making it really hard to remember or recognize. Al the melodies are great and the solos are terrific, but I could't realy find the meaning in this track. It was weird for such a great composer to ignore "Form" altogether, since it was always one of his main ingredients. When I heard the second part of the rock opera, and analyzed al the themes from Song of 1972 I got it, and it was confirmed when Part 3 came out. FORM is not lacking in Before my Eyes at all. It's an overture for the whole album and utilizes (one after the other) all the main themes that appear in all four parts of the rock opera. (that's why it's called Before my Eyes, like your life flashing before your eyes before dying). When I realized this I found a lot of themes that already appeared on other tracks on the Childhood section being performed here very differently and it became one of my favourite songs.

3 - Back to the Promised Land: this is a slow acoustic song sung by Osvaldo Mellace, with backing vocals once again by Canela Sol. It's quite beautiful and that's pretty much there is to say to it. It's theme was foreshadowed on the previous track but it reaches it's most beautiful form on a track from Part 3 of the rock opera called My Time is Gone.

4 - Superstar: this tracks, just like Before my Eyes, summarize my first impresions of the album: at first listen it was just a simple rock song and I was let down by it. Yes, it's sounds good, but I expect much more intricancies from someone like Rodrigo San Martin (specially after sucha mellow track as Back to the Promised Land). Upon further analisis I started to find many interesting details that were lost on my first dismissal of it. The flute work (done by San Martin himself) is amazing and reminds of Ian Anderson, as is the killer guitar solo in the middle section. Mellace's vocals are great, with his very Greg Lakeasque voice. It just when I started to write this review that I noticed that the beat of the song is not 4/4 but 7/4. Not a simple rock song after all...

5 - Epica: the final track of the EP is a proper prog-folk track. It starts with a beautiful harpsichord medieval intro (featuring one of the main themes, which was so well hidden that I had to listen to it in the apotheosis of Song of 1972 to realize that it had been foreshadowed many times on the first EP). Craig Kerleys powerful vocals carry the song into orchestral heavy prog territory. There's is a fantastic instrumental duel between between Rodrigo San Martín's guitar and Fernando Refay's synths on the height of the track, before fusing into a wonderful unison that brings us back to the the main chorus and Kerley's raw power.

And the song doens't end. I didn't understand it at first, but if it ended it woudn't flow into the others...

So, The Veil is Broken: Childhood is the first part of a super ambitious rock opera and it's very good indeed, but I think Rodrigo made a mistake by separating it into four parts, and the one that suffers the most from the absence of the whole opera is this one.

Even so, The Veil is Broken (or at least the three out of four parts that have been released by the time I wrote this) is a remarkable effort from one (if not THE) best composer of modern latin american prog. And it actually FULFILLS it's inital hype, when listened as a whole.

Give it a try, it's free on bandcamp.

The first track scores over 10 minutes and after a start reminding of EL&P moves into heavier sounds. Having listened to Rodrigo's albums since his first release I can't not notice the big improvement he has done. Even being a multi-instrumentist he has given up to the idea of playing all alone and he has shown a "talent" in choosing his partners. In particular the keyboardist Fernando Refay, also on PA with his solo works, gives a remarkable effort.

Back to the track, it has a number of sudden changes like a Mike Oldfield's suite, but this doesn't disturb and the dialogue between guitar and keys on different themes is very good. The closure is very '70s like, in line with the track title. A good track suddenly ending. a "Incomplete" is very melodic. Based on piano and keyboards (I think played by Rodrigo) with the operatic vocals of Canela Sol. A nice song followed by a sort of 70s pop intro.

"Auditions" guitar riff sounds quite British. The song is interesting and is followed by another melodic rock song: "No Destiny" has a particular mood. In the chorus it has something of 80s hair metal, including a very good guitar riff. The very clean vocals sound very appropriate in this song.

Finally, "Never" closes the album with an attack reminding of "The Who" (at least for me), followed by a bass riff. It's a 2 minutes intro to a rock song, and...yes, it reminds me to the Who. Not a bad thing, isn't it? Let's also add that the keyboards sound a bit Wakemanian.

So, don't forget that this is part of a concept album. I don't know how I could rate it in its entirety (even if I've already leistened to the remaining unreleased parts. I'm giving 3 stars by now but the whole concept deserves surely more.

Get it on bandcamp.

So the minimum I can do is rewrite it completely. What impressed me at the first listen was the big difference between this album and the "previous" one. Of course! It was another artist...

Anyway, Rdrigo San Martin has been so kind to share with me the complete work of which this EP is only the first of 4 parts. The whole is a concept album in AYREON's style: I mean a rock opera with different singers each interpreting a character.As it's not released yet, the only thing I will say about the complete opera is that there are songs like the 11 minutes title track which are very impressive.

The story is about the rise and fall of a prog artist in the 80s and this first part, the only one already released, is about his childhood and youth. The music is well performed and arranged and the talented singers add value to the songs.

The EP starts with a neo-prog touch which I could compare to Hogarth's Marillion, but it quickly becomes more rocking so that it can be defined a prog-metal act. Very good guitar supported by keys and an excellent rhythmic section. The comparison with AYREON is the first which came to my mind.

The reason why this opera has been divided in four parts is that Rodrigo San Martin is afraid that a 2 hours concept album can be too longand for this reason he has split it in four parts. We progheads know that this is not an issue, really.

Anyway, while waiting for the complete opera to be released, go checking the EP which is available on Bandcamp.

My apologies to both Rodrigo San Martin and Alejandro Matos. From a musical point of view they have very few in common. It's only that they are two Argentinian artists and I've been in touch with both....what an idiot I am....

Rodrigo's compositional skills are growing and he's surrounded himself with an all-star team to record this one.

01 A Lullaby for Mankind I (Intro): just like the title implies it's an instrumental intro to the album, featuring many of the motifs that would appear later. The Hammond Organ solo steals the show in my opinion!

02 A Lullaby for Mankind II: now the music goes into a -kind of- pop terrain, featuring the singing of Jelena Perisic who sounds like a mother singing to her child to get him to sleep over some acoustic guitar. The composition reminds me of Neal Morse.

03 The Sky Falls Down I: Osvaldo Mellace, a great male singer, makes his appearance for this one bringing a lot more energy. If I have to compare it with something I would name the heavy section in 5/8 on Thick as a Brick. Great guitar work!

04 The Masterplan: here we have some lovely melodies sung by Osvaldo over a guitar arpeggio. The melodic bass lines from Robert Lynch are fantastic. The second part of the track is a crescendo with beautiful harmonies from the two singers that leads to...

05 Intermission I: something completely unexpected. A jazzy instrumental piece with an amazing piano solo, this one is nice but feels quite out of place actually.

06 The Dark Ages: this is a heavy piece more familiar with what we have been hearing from Rodrigo on past albums. The best part is the "hindu" cut where Jelena sings with a sitar, in the middle of heavy riffing, that was unexpected. Fernando Refay shows some amazing skills with a very long synth solo at the end of the track.

07 Colonization: and we continue with the surprises. Here we have a flamenco tune sung mostly in spanish. Great spanish guitar work from Rodrigo and Piano from Fernando. Osvaldo proves he's an amazing singer once more.

08 Intermission II: nothing like the first Intermission, this one is used to bring the energy back to the mix. Featuring Hammond and guitar solos over a cool riff.

09 A Lullaby for Mankind III: Jelena comes back with the motif from A Lullaby for Mankind II that leads straight into the repetition of the crescendo that appeared on The Masterplan, this time with acoustic guitar and what I guess it's a xylophone that sounds lovely. They don't interfere with the build up this time and resolve it in an amazing guitar solo that kind of reminds me of the ending of Con Los Ojos Abiertos (from Rodrigo's Eyes album)

10 Two Children are Born: here we have a piano riff quite resemblant to Tubular Bells playing over some Pink Floyd-like sound effects. The rest of the band appears briefly to shock you everytime you feel comfortable enough to relax, be warned!

11 He's Here: Osvaldo and Jelena sing over a clean guitar riff that remids me of Transatlantic's Evermore. The lyrics start to get weirder here, the chorus (sung by the two of them) being "We have cloned our lord, he's here!".

12 No One Knew: every single song in here is quite a surprise but I never thought I'd hear something like this on a Rodrigo San Martín album. The verse is a (kind of)funky bass line over a drum loop and the chorus features an orchestra, there's quite a contrast between the two. Maybe it owes something to Blackfield?

13 Mass: things are getting weirder by the minute. This one is a gregorian chant piece in latin, sung very operatically by Canela Sol. After the vocal section there is a reprise of the Colonization verse, this time played by a very Wakeman-like moog over a church organ.

14 The Sky Falls Down II: a reprise of the track of the same name, this time sung by Jelena instead of Osvaldo. Cool heavy guitar solo and, another jazzy section with a great solo by Refay.

15 For Everyone to See: this is an odd little waltz. The music seems very naive but the lyrics are quite crude actually.

16 We Will Drown in a Sea of Ignorance Until We Evolve Into Something That Can Turn It To Oxygen I: great hammond riffing reminds us of the late Jon Lord.

17 We Will Drown in a Sea of Ignorance Until We Evolve Into Something That Can Turn It To Oxygen II: and here comes the Crimson King, at first at least. This track is a duel between Refay's keyboards and San Martín's guitar, playing over a the great rhythm section of Lynch- Black.

18 Coda: a very melancholic guitar solo playing over the piano theme from "Two Chlidren are Born" close the album as it fades out.

I rate the album four stars because of it's constant surprised to the listener and amazing musicianship. It's free on Rodrigo's bandcamp so give it a try!