COM.UNIÓN

This is the only Cast album I've listened to and it made me want to see them live as soon as possible (luckily it will happen next month). It mixes plenty of styles such as neo prog, latin jazz, a little heavy rock at times and even arabic music, resulting exquisite. I have no much to say about Cast since I don't really know them, but this album is something any prog fan would enjoy gladly. My favourite track is Damajuana II though, the latin influences are very clear and the sax just made me fell in love with the track, the album and the band. Although it's not a masterpiece of the progressive music, 4 stars are a good rating for this awesome release.

By the way, Claudio Cordero from MATRAZ plays the guitar in Com.Unión and will be touring with them.

This confidential Mexican band has already released an awful lot of (long) albums since their recording debut in 1994 (but the band has played together since 1979 already). They are also very busy in the organization of the biggest prog festival in Latin America : "Baja Prog" in Mexicali (Northern Mexico).

Their sound has eveloved during all these years. Especially towards jazz with the addition of a sax player starting from their album "Al-Bandaluz". Pepe flores was a guest musician on this work, but from the next one onwards, he will become a full member of the band playing several wind instruments.

"Al Bello" is a definite example of this rather jazzy style but it will feature a great guitar solo. This is very scarce in their work so far : it is usually dominated by the work of Alfonso Vidales, their leader and keyboardist. When not fully instrumental, the vocals with Dino Brassea back on work again (since "Pyramid Of The Rain"). He is maybe not the best vocalist on earth, but he is pretty much decent in his work. His flute play is also enjoyable.

From full English lyrics during most of their career, "Cast" switched to full Spanish ones here.

I have never understood that "Cast" was integrated into the "Neo-Prog" genre. Their compositions are intricated, hard to absorb, difficult to diggest. Symph would certainly fit better their musical style.

When you listen to "Fantasmas Y Demonios" you are really close to KC and really far from neo-prog. Same applies to "Elfonia". The longest song from this work. It starts in an almost pastoral way, but this mood will be several times interrupted with some heavy and powerful passages. Actually, this song is a good equilibrium between soft and melodic music, together with a bit of some heavy cacophony. The whole being rather interesting, especially the middle part which features some great virtuosity (guitar and keys).

It is natural of course that "Sensación Árabe" sounds very much Oriental. At least during the intro. Musicianship is excellent here (guitar and drumming). Complex rhythm and pleasant vocals from Lupita Vidales (Alfonso young sister). This song changes several times from atmpospheres. It is a distinctive track, full of originality. Totally the opposite of "Damajuana II" which starts as a dull instrumental but is saved by some good sax and piano work during the second part. Fully Latin-American rhythms. They already played a song called "Damajuana" on their album "Al-Bandaluz" in 2003.

Not all songs will be jewels of course. "Donde Se Visten Las Serpientes" is one of the weakest songs. It is indeed a profund question ("where are the serpents getting dressed"), but apart from this original title, this song has little to offer. The poorest of all is definitely "Hogar Dulce Hogar". A useless jazzy cacophony. Hopefully it is short (which is its only catchy side). But don't worry, "Cast" will demonstrate again their skills during "El Cojin Verde" an excellent instrumental piece. Guitar again is excessively well played. Bravo.

This album should have been fifteen minutes shorter (but this is a general problem with "Cast". They have always felt that it was vital to produce over-long albums 'like "TFK"). Anyway, it is a pleasant work for two third of it. Three stars.

This is my first introduction into CAST and I hope not the last.

I've heard about these guys when I was hugely obssessed with GENESIS and related bands. Now recovering, I felt like I don't need them that much anymore. But "Com.Union" is a wonderful album, very varied, sung in Spanish, with notable references to Italian Prog and even KC...I can hardly see GENESIS influences on this one! This is what made me even more curious about CAST, so I planning to get some more albums of them sooner or later.

As for "Com.Union", I wholeheartedly recommend check this album to every Retro Prog fan! It's yummy, this is it! 3 and 2/3 stars rounded to 4.

Very interesting release by this prolific mexican band. I heard they played a kind of neo prog sound and I looked for their CDs. I got a couple of them and to be really fair I just didn´t like them. They played neo prog, alright, but the songs were rather ragged and disjoined, so I didn´t even bother to review them. But I could not believe a band with so many CDs was bad all the way, so after some time I decided to take chances with their latter material. that´s when I bought Com.Union. And I was rewarded. But they sound did change a lot.

First of all they are much more symphonic and jazz rock oriented now than anything I´ve heard. The inclusion of Pepe Flores on wind instruments certainly helped to give the album a certain King Crimson flavour here and there, but the structures of the songs are also different. The album is quite varied with bombastic moments followed by some quiter passages. Some are even a bit chaotic (hence some KC connections again), but not very often. They also included much more latin rhythms on the mixture. The result is a highly enjoyable, creative music. Most of the time it works. But on a 70 minute CD it would be surprising not to find some flaws. Amazingly they are few.

The band also decided not to sing in english anymore. And I think this was a right move, for the spanish languague sounds very well on this kind of music. Dino Brassea´s voice is not very outstanding but it fits just right. Besides, the addition of a female singer (Lupita Vidales) on some tracks did improved the vocal department a lot. The tracks that have both singers are the best ones.

Conclusion: a very strong release. I believe the band found its personality and very own sound. I liked it very much and I´m looking forward to hear Com.Union´s follow ups. Although not perfect in any way, I thought it was unfair not to give the CD less than 3,5. So something between that and 4 stars is more adequate. Recommended.