AURORA DOS SONHOS

With a stable line-up and a good contract with Musea, things couldn't have gone much better for Apocalypse.Actually Musea believed so much in the Brazilians that instantly included one of the debut's tracks (''Notre Dame'') in the late-95' compilation ''Le meilleur du rock progressif instrumental''.The next year Apocalypse returned with their sophomore effort ''Aurora dos Sonhos''.The album dealt with different issues like conservation of nature, science fiction and spirituality.

Musically the band attempted to deliver longer and more complicated arrangements with the result being partly succesful.Succesful because the beautiful elements already presented on their debut are again on par: Haunting melodies, dramatic atmospheres, elaborate solos and sharp, grandiose synthesizers.Partly because the long tracks contain overstretched intos or themes that prevent them from being absolutely stunning.Some extended hypnotic guitar solos and Classical-inspired piano preludes are still interesting, but way too long to be warmly appreciated.Fortunately the band is generally in excellent shape.The tracks scan the fields of Neo Prog and Symphonic Rock with comfort, most of the guitar melodies are fantastic, while Eloy Fritsch seems to be another talented keyboard wizard, torturing his minimoog synthesizer with easiness.Lots of shifting moods and diverse textures guarantee another enjoyable release by the band.

Not as consistent as their debut, but the majority of ''Aurora dos Sonhos'' is engaging Neo/Symph Prog with quite a few impressive passages.Had the band avoided the aforementioned flaws, we would be talking about another masterful work.Still strongly recommended...3.5 stars.