EL CIELO

I'm writing the present review in coincidence with the first date of the US band in Milan-Italy (at "Transilvania Live") dated September, 19 2005, so I'm glad to proceed: it's an intricate concept-work regarding a famous picture by Salvador Dalì, whose melancholic mood, as well as a kind of such a surreal "game" of their own, let them play it as one of the best post rock albums of 2002 (perhaps the best one)!! By thinking of the incredible title of the original picture, concerning "The flight of a bee all around a pomegranate, just a moment before awakening.", here you understand their aim! In fact if you regard of the first phase of their remarkable career, when They started playing according to the mood of bands such as Tools, you still note their huge versatility. their music references, going from the classic hard rock-genre, passing through a "jazzy" post rock and even a few funky breaks-through, have been always regarded as a modern contamination, among the most interesting different music styles!! Of course nowadays their approach is more commercial, in the song-format, which is not bad anyway.ok, honestly I don't like the dissonant guitar breaks-through in the vein of Mogway, even though their tones are a bit Pink Floyd-oriented and sometimes closer to Radiohead, which make their style interesting: in particular the vocalism by Haynes is emotional and it's strange that their experimental method- regarding their personal composition - has often been relegated into a normal post rock or grunge music-genre (generally labelled as "crossover"-style); instead by means of this album They showed a different dimension in their music.

If you like the already mentioned bands above, or also the ensemble of Porcupine Tree, you must choose this "El Cielo": otherwise you could be interested in something a bit different, like- for instance- the stuff by Don Caballero, which is closer to my music taste. However make your own choice once again, as you could give it a 3 stars score!!