My lesser known and unknown new prog bands thread

 

ALBATROS – Pentadelia

 

 

- I discovered this Spanish five-piece formation on The Spanish Progressive Rock Page in the New Releases section, like I did with other promising new Spanish bands Zaguan, Neverness, Bijou and the excellent Senogul. I was very curious to Albatros their sound when I read about their psychedelic oriented blend of several styles, from Rock Andalus to prog metal. Well, during my first listening session I got impressed from the very first moment. Although I trace elements from early Led Zeppelin, Seventies Hawkwind, Pink Floyd (Pompeii-era) and Eighties Rush, I notice that Albatros (the name points at five guys who wants to make psychedelic inspired music) has developped an own musical identity: their trademarks are great dynamics and building up compelling or hypnotizing atmospheres, topped with surprising musical ideas, an adventurous rhythm-section, powerful guitarwork and inventive keyboardplay. The album contains 8 songs, I am delighted about 6 tracks because these showcase Albatros their exciting eclectic musical approach.
* The instrumental 48: it starts with the sound of the sea and birds, blended with powerful saxophone work

   and then climates that shift from propulsive with prog metal guitar/drums to a slow rhythm with sensitive

   electric guitar/mellow organ and a dreamy atmosphere with twanging guitar and soaring keyboards,

   culminating in a very compelling psychedelic mood featuring great interplay, fiery guitar and hypnotizing

   synthesizers.
* Supernova: a strong and catchy beat in a hypnotizing climate (evoking early Hawkwind) with wah-wah

  guitar and lots of dynamics, the second part is mellow with Floydian guitar and warm Spanish vocals,

  culminating in a lush finale delivering a sensitive electric guitar solo and a fluent rhythm-section.
* Santuario: first a mellow climate with twanging acoustic guitar, then an accellaration
  featuring fluent drums, inspired Spanish vocals and tasteful interplay between guitar and keyboards.
* The instrumental Ensor: tasteful and varied with sensational interplay between a bombastic choir-

   Mellotron-like sound and wah-wah drenched guitar with obvious psychedelic undertones.
* Waiting For A Sign: first wailing distorted vocals and bluesy Fender Rhodes piano, then more and more

  dynamic with a slow but exciting psychedelic inspired synthesizer solo, very compelling music.
* And finally the instrumental Mehari: dynamic and varied with excellent work on guitar and keyboards, the

  climate sounds like Heavy Psychedelic Prog.
The other two songs also deliver good and captivating moments but Hombre Menguante suffers from mediocre English vocals and the final track Las Tripas de Goliat sounds a bit too fragmentic to me (too many ideas in one song in my opinion) and I am not pleased with the theatrical way of singing.
- My conclusion: this is a very promising progrock band that will please the fans of psychedelic rock and Heavy Prog, check out their website in order to discover the exciting sound of Albatros!

 

 

 

- In 2007 the rhythm-section of the legendary Hungarian progrock band Solaris founded Solaris Fusion and released the mini-CD Mystica (2 compositions). In 2008 this Hungarian formation changed their name into Nostradamus with almost the same line-up (only a new fluteplayer) but another musical direction, I would like to describe it as a Heavy Prog version of Solaris.
- On this album it’s obvious that most musicians are classically trained, the interplay is awesome and especially the compositorial skills of keyboardplayer Valeria Barcsik are great, this turns listening to Testament into a captivating musical experience. I am excited about the tension between on one hand the heavy rhythm-section, propulsive guitar riffs and powerful guitar and on the other hand the sparkling flute and sumptuous keyboards, it sounds like “classical meets progmetal”, great! My favorite moments on this CD are Solarissimo (bombastic and dynamic with swirling flute, fat synthesizer flights and sensitive electric guitar runs, the Spanish undertones are strong), Divine Comedy (between Heavy Prog and progmetal with fiery guitar, sparkling flute and orchestral keyboards), the enervating and dynamic titletrack (omnipresent flutework, warm Grand piano, propulsive guitar riffs, a strong organ solo and excellent interplay), a beautiful build-up in Emotion (from dreamy with twanging guitar to a compelling grand finale with howling guitar) and warm interplay between classical flute and acoustic guitar in Secret In Hand. A bit of a maverick is the short song African Cotton Typesetters In Ireland that blends African singing and Irish folk instruments, very special! The bonustrack My Emotion is a strong conclusion, it starts mellow with dreamy vocals and soaring keyboards and ends bombastic with howling electric guitar.
- What a stunning debut CD this Hungarian formation has delivered, it deserves worldwide atention, progheads alert!