LANDING IN A SERIOUS MIND

Cast is one of the few prog-rock bands from Mexico. And a good one, I must say. The main reason for which I was first interested in the band was that they had pretty good reviews on PA, and that my wife being Mexican, I have also had a special feeling about what will become my second home in some future.

Cast will be a rather prolific band, releasing almost one album during each year of their career (still running to-date). Especially during their first years. Since they played together well before their first release, they probably had lots of material available (six albums, and long ones) in a mere two years !

They will decide to sing in English, for obvious reasons. Big Brother is just North, and to sing in Spanish would have cut them from a huge potential. Still, I do not know how well there are doing in terms of sales since this band is rather discreet : little information on their web-site, little touring in Europe. They are almost unknown over here. Even on this site, very few reviews are posted. Maybe that their lack of commercial success will make them change their minds since they revert to Spanish lyrics later on in their career.

"At Last Alone" is an intrumental number that sounds more like ELP in its introduction. It turns out to be a very light and subtle piece of music int the second part (with some flamenco guitar sounds). It turns out almost like an Italian prog band. Maybe the Latin influence ? One of my fave on this album (but there won't be much).

ELP is also close for "Not Sleeping" : a jazzy intrumental number with good bass and percussion, some marimba (this is a Mexican band, right ?) but emotionless.

The longest piece is "Just Another Way" : it opens on a long (over three minutes) and uniform (dull) church organ intro. The vocal part that follows is nice but a bit boring and monotonous. Some flamenco guitar sound are welcome to bring a bit of diversity but the finale is quite hectic, structureless and flat. I'm afraid that so far this album is not really convincing.

"Reunion" is more appealing : aerial at start, good background piano and a nice bombastic finale (again a la ELP).

This first album is average : it does not contain lots of outstanding numbers (although the opening number is rather nice, with subtle keys in the intro and very inspired vocal part). No bad ones either. The poppy closing number "Chris Col" brings some fresh air in this work.A bit childish maybe.

The architecture of their songs is sometimes complex but the best of their work will be achieved later on.

The main source of inspiration might well be Renaissance and its classical approach but with a male vocalist. Genesis from the "Wind & Wuthering" era as well . But only for a few numbers ("Rest Your Nest" and maybe "Athens") and ELP as I have already mentioned.

This band surely deserves a try but this album is probably not the one I would recommend to discover their work. As I am almost Mexican (half, actually), I will round up this effort to three stars.