ROMANTIC WARRIOR

I don't know why i took so long to reach this album, why i avoided listening to it, no reason at all. I remember reading some reviews here back in 2018 and not being able to understand what was the fuzz, i don't remember what i read back then and what i ended up listening to, but now after many years, while in a return to forever mood, decided to give this a listen... and now i understand, this album is very good, but i'll tell you why below.

1.- Medieval Overture 9/10 Starting with those time signatures that i love, this track trapped me immediately, i'm pretty sure that i never heard this one before, reminds me of ELP and that's excelent, i would remember anything sounding like ELP.

This track is complete and pure progressive rock, i seriously encourage anyone to listen to this, after listening to the entire album. I think that this track gives you more in 5 minutes than some of the next tracks... except The Magician, listen to that one as well (spoilers).

2.- Sorceress 7/10 This track starts a little too funky for my taste but as it comes a long, the track lets its dark side come about, while the main hook is the funky sounding rythm, this goes to landscapes unimaginable, so you have to sit on it for a nice instrumental rythmic section until the cream of the butter starts, and you won't be dissapointed.

3.- The Romantic Warrior 6/10 With a complex atmospheric introduction to boot, this track then continues into some funk sounding rythms while going all in with instrumental virtuosity from time to time. I don't feel much with this track, this was probably the track that i heard at first in 2018. I have to say though, this track features more acoustic guitar than what i've been accustomed with Chick Corea's music so far. This one's main hook wasn't as strong for me as the previous track, i was constantly looking for all the stuff that would take me away from that rythm and they appeared, but it wasn't enough, this was almost a 5.

4.- Majestic Dance 7/10 I was expecting something calmer with the title but instead i got a hard rock sound instead, well, i'm glad, the track gets weirder a long the way with parts that feature only keyboards and/or guitar, and that its just ok, once the drums and the rest enter again it feels like a breath of air, and the ending features some very nice bass lines. Really enjoyed this little track, wish it was longer, with shorter and crazier solo stuff.

5.- The Magician 9/10 If you love being confused, you're at the right place! I'm really liking this track, the walls of sounds and the time signatures. Every chord that appears here is notable, an example of a classic progressive rock track with many changes in landscapes. You could've shown me a sample of 10 seconds from this, tell me its King Crimson and i would've believed you. Conclusion, this is great, another stand out for me and a full recommendation to everyone.

6.- Duel of the Jester and the Tyrant 8/10 I feel as if the previous song prepared me for the real stuff. Many Japanese developers have based the music for fight scenes in RPGs from progressive rock music, and this sounds like that, except that it IS that, its progressive music, but also the title states "duel" and i can surely FEEL that... probably some game i played featured some of the chords that are here... but no game features Chick Corea doing some insane solo in the middle of this track.

The track then drops the bass and goes into full funk mode for a second, that sounded very smooth and clean, i have to do a compliment to the bass sometime, right? Well, the music piece uses this but doesn't overstate its welcome compared to other tracks because it goes into the "Jester" parts, and i imagine the "Tyrant" parts are the royal sounding sections. I'm not as convinced on the second part more than the first.

This album gets a 77/100 and that is 4 Stars, i recommend the full album but if you have a few minutes of time, listen to the first track or the previous to last track, they're both excelent.

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