Keyboardist, bassist, and vocalist Leo Skinner is the man behind this lavish endeavour, and his three band mates add all the firepower one would hope for, a new discovery which garnered my initial attention, in lieu of the rather attractive cover art, and the fact they are from Sao Paulo, Brazil. Then, I read somewhere that Canadian legends Rush were a major influence (I daresay even a crush) and that sort sealed the envelope right there and then. Ably assisted by Gui Beltrame on guitars , keyboardist Ranieri Benvenuto and drummer Leo Nascimento.
From the open full throttle launch on “To the Stars”, the above comments bare their fruit with a whiplash tremor, Skinner’s beefy bass sparing no prisoners, as well as his vocals which bare little resemblance to either Geddy’s early screeching or later instantly recognizable style. The trio behind him are not on the same level as the Canadian legends , but frankly, who are ? So, let us end the Rush-ian comparisons as they are unjustly impossible levels to achieve. They are doing just fine, learning their craft, based on their influences which is pretty much the way to go anyway.
The title track unexpectedly emotes with an echo-laden piano and a voice, soon emboldened by the rhythm section revving up the compressors and setting a solid foundation, coming across at times like The Fixx instead of the Toronto lads. The sinuous guitar scrapes rather unctuously along, amid the shivering keyboard patterns and Leo’s voice convincingly relates the passion.
“No Answer” evokes the cover art image, a castaway astronaut longing for home, holding a child’s hand for comfort. That reptilian bass will conquer me every time, and it’s easily the beacon within the arrangement that forces me to enjoy this, dismissing any hypothetical criticism of slight faults or failures, even though I still have not found any up to now. The twists and turns, the mood shifts, the little undertow details, all is delightfully attractive, without any need to complain. Leo can hit the higher notes on the microphone as well as holding them, so the man can sing. The synthesizer work is spot on, though discreet.
The switch back to assaulting rhythmic gymnastics comes up on the sci-fi soundtrack “Report #28”, a typical space rock ditty with command center appeals for salvation, fueled by an intrepid bass solo that shoves along this musical module at warp 3. The rhythmic duo put up a fierce display that flirts with genius, another compelling track, ‘there is still hope’.
Yes, it’s him again, “The Devil’s Fault”, unleashed with a wobbly synthesizer bubble bath that scours everything in its wake, Benvenuto getting his moment in the spotlight and rightly so, a modern proggy workout with unpretentious trimmings, holding on to the lacy skirt of dark electronica. Halfway through, a softer transition creates a fiendish melody that oozes depraved elegance, drenched in skilled atmospherics, before a vocoded passage reboots the assault on the senses. Stunning.
That confounded rubbery bass slithers into a breezy “A Dream of Us”, emanating a New Order aroma, especially in the voice and the sparse keyboard organization that keeps the mood somewhat accessible without selling out to a different audience. Highly melodic, on the verge of sing along, everything here drips with entrancing subtlety, and then suddenly, a brutal guitar screech alters the perception just enough to go for another turn on the merry go round. Repeated listens will satisfy even more.
Perfectly titled, “Disconnected” has a jumpy/nervy feel, with some incredible vocalizations, stop and start riffs, relentless drumming and assorted intelligent transitions that appear unannounced. Moments of delirium, others of intense urgency, skirting insanity and then, ambient pooling of broken shards of mirror. Yet all along, the bass remains fluid and, in your face, (just the way me likes it), at times even quite technical. It also knows nasty, Leo can play. The final section waddles through an ambient orchestral haze that verges on magnificence, and a crushingly serene vocal. This surely would be a showstopper in concert.
A humble reprieve on “Speaking in Silence“ surprisingly verging on punkish feel (think UK band Magazine), the bass pummeling brutally, the tortured guitar in abject pain, slicing rhythms galore, and a short life span.
The pinging synths return to colour the skies on “Eternity”, the lengthiest track ,running a bit over 8 minutes, amid plenty of polyrhythmic shifts, and Leo doing his Cy Curnin meets Geddy Lee vocal to perfection, in fact he simply shines here. The final section is where the sparks fly once again, Beltrame getting to shift into a sensational solo, voice effects revisited, and an eventual fade into the cosmos.
A band that is on my watch list from now on, as this release indicates a very bright future.
4 Blue planets