GRITARÉ

This record is a great surprise in the world of metal prog. After their really promising first effort, 'Tiempo', Matraz released an even better second record, in part thanks to the substitution of their previous vocalist with the versatile female vocals of Loreto Chaparo. What we have here is a blend of the good old metal prog à la Dream Theater (in their best moments, take 'Awake' replace Kevin Moore with Jordan Rudess and James Labrie with a female vocalist and you are not very far from the music you can hear on 'Gritaré') and jazz- fusion. The vocals are very good and as I let you suggest previously, they are clear (most of the time) as they can take a more aggressive way (the first track, but I think this was meant to fit the music which has a fast pace). The music is very rich in odd-time signatures and the members of Matraz take care never to fill the room. Moreover, the keyboard parts sound very delightful, reminding a lot the solo keyboard stuff of Jordan Rudess. I am glad to see that Matraz use their own language in their records, which adds to the originality of their music. Matraz are not another cliched metal-prog that appeared to garner a wide audience, they created a musical language that can appeal much more to fans of classic prog-rock than to the average metal fans, like did A piedi nudi in Italy some years earlier. Complex music, with melodic passages and great vocals are enough elements to rate this album with five stars.