ANGELS AND DEMONS

I had a unique experience with the band that I only knew it sometime in 1998, after they had existed many years before. It was my prog gurus: Andy Julias, Bowo and Suryorimba who informed me about how great the band was. I did not argue with them as I knew how good their opinions were; and I ordered about 10 albums of the band and 2 solo projects of the keyboardist and guitarist (it's a great solo album!). When my CDs arrived, "Angels and Demons" blew me! I understand why my friends acknowledge this band. I even purchased the BAJA PROG CD that caught CAST live performance. The early albums of the band were not all excellent. (There was a funny experience happened to my friend who chased the album of CAST in my country and he got the wrong CD which was a group of the same name but from UK - in the vein of pop music..... LOL).

The real strengths of this Mexican (not UK) band are on: 1.) their complex and tight music composition, and 2.) the musicianship of Luis Alfonso Vidales (keyboards), Francisco Hernandez Reyes (guitars) and Antonio Bringas (oops ..!! In my language this means "wild" . which serves to be right if I associate this with his dynamic drumming in "Initiation". Great work, Mr. Bringas!). The album presents a much more complex arrangements and heavier if compared to any other neo progressive band (I believe that this band has been pigeon holed as neo band. I actually disagree with this because, I think, most of their music is complex and heavy in nature).

The band dares to open the album with a relatively long instrumental piece with shuffling drums: "Initiation". This track is relatively complex and it has varieties of shifting tempos, dynamic melodies with howling keyboard sound. Yes, it's a keyboard- based track but I admire how Antonio Bringas plays his drums and percussion sets. For those of you who never heard of this band might be surprised with the overall quality of this track. Dynamic and marvelous! Especially if you play it LOUDly ..

"We Don't Belong To Heaven" is a relatively mellow track with a nice keyboard intro accompanied by a howling guitar (Hackettian). Good melody with no drumming. This track is well positioned to welcome next beautifully crafted and energetic track: "Reality Or Misanthropy?". For me personally, this track is a masterpiece. It has a fascinating and speedy keyboard play with great melody on its vocal line. The interlude keyboard solo coupled with dazzling drumming and guitar fills work well in a perfect harmony. The melody of this track is really deep, touchy and memorable. This track BLOWS me! (The other Mexican version of this track under "Laguna de Volcanes" double CD compilation is even better. It has flute in the interlude). This is the kind of music that any band who plays in the vein of GENESIS should look like.

The title track "Angels And Demons" is an instrumental piece heavily influenced by classical music. This track is merely used to demonstrate how powerful the keyboard player is. I guess. It's too dominant really. "Revealing Signs of Love" is a long track with beautiful melody and excellent keyboard and piano plays combined with guitar fills. The piano reaches its highest at minutes 6:57 and they keyboard's nicest play is at minute 10:31. What an amazing music these guys have made!! For me personally, from minute 10:31 onwards is the part that creates great climax for this track.

"White Lies? / Brief Story Of The Freewill" is my all-time favorite. It has melodic vocal at opening section with excellent howling guitar, accentuated by TULL-like flute sound and dynamic bass lines. What a great opening! The structure of this track is unusual as it has vocal at the opening part but the rest and longer part of the track is purely an instrumental piece with shifting tempos and powerful articulation of multi instruments: keyboard, piano, flute. The Hackettian guitar play at interlude is really nice when it is combined with piano and dazzling bass. No one would argue that this track is a masterpiece and the best composition that CAST has ever produced! I have a habit of repeating this track 3 or 4 times. It's very enjoyable and very uplifting. Unfortunately, the sonic quality of the CD is not excellent.

The downsides of this album are: 1. Poor production quality. It happens to almost all of CAST albums (I have 10 albums of CAST with same poor quality). Even, I purchased the "Laguna de Volcanes" in CDR format (but, it's original! Because I purchased it direct from the band couple years ago). It's a pity, such a great music is not well supported by proper packaging. 2. Almost all compositions in this album are excellent. BUT it's very boring since there is too much keyboard sound here and there in almost similar (or even the same) style. In the middle of the disc you will find that the nice keyboard play is becoming a boring stuff because the keyboard player is overdoing it. He's kind like "abusing" his skills to dominate the music. Nothing wrong, isn't it? But .. it's damn boring, my friend. He should let the Hackettian guitarist plays more roles in melody and solo during interlude. Bring down your "ego" Mr. Poncho ..

To conclude my review: I give 5 star rating for musicianship, composition and performance. However, due to poor production and packaging and boring musical stuff, I give an overall of 4.45 star. I think it's fair enough. - Gatot Widayanto, Indonesia.