FRAGMENTS OF LIGHT

Third album by the Spanish Classical-influenced combo comes by the name ''Fragments of light'' and, while this one does not feature any significant line-up changes (only cellist Franscisco Ochando is absent compared to the previous album), it does contain some slight upgrades in the composing department.For the first time guitarist Cesar Garcia Forero participated as an arranger of some of the presented pieces, while this one marks also Kotebel's junior attempt on including lyrics in the music, all of them are based on poems of Nathalye Engelke.The album was released in September 2003 on Musea.

Again Carlos Plaza and his teammates were able to produce highly symphonic music, which comes even closer to the Progressive Rock aesthetics due to the typical guitar/bass/drums/keyboards instrumentation plus Acosta's intense flute work.The electric textures are seriously upgraded and the very complex keyboard parts appear more frequently, while the band retains its sense of atmospheric, melodic soundscapes throughout this work.Again THE ENID might be the most proper comparison, but the bulk of electric guitars have a STEVE HACKETT-like vibe, the angular synth movements and the operatic female voices come in the vein of QUASAR LUX SYMPHONIAE plus the acoustic orientations and the passionate flute work recall RAIMUNDO RODULFO's efforts.The long arrangements are absolutely great, full of CAMEL-esque flute themes, Classical-drenched piano interludes, big symphonic keyboards and occasional guitar bursts, switching from elaborate textures to dramatic, instrumental music.The addition of lyrics, choirs and narration make this effort more compact and coherent, while the discreet folky underlines are still present.My only complaint comes from the long ''Children suite'', which sounds pretty academic, practically a piano solo piece performed by Carlos Plaza, which I doubt it has anything to offer to a Prog Rock fan, apart from some minutes of sensitive, piano-based echoes.

Nice work of pure Symphonic Rock.Well-crafted arrangements with both complicated and atmospheric flavors, a more balanced sound compared to the previous albums but also a rather needless addition at the very end of the album.Recommended.