MYSTICAE VISIONES

"Bo-o-o-oring" as Homer Simpson says.

Probably, just not my cup of coffee. Instrumental, symphonic and BORING. Nothing special there really - neither melodically nor musically.Nothing challenging or interesting. We heard it 1000 times before - "here we play Spock's Beard,here - Jethro Tull,here - Renaissance"...Being a minority in this case, I can't get everybody's excitement towards this band. Symphonic Prog maniacs' Musthave, but not mine this time.

I can only partially share the bill from my Prog jester colleague. There is little to retain from here. This being said, I see no reason to compare this work with some "Spock's Beard" or ''Tull" ones.

This album has its own merits or defaults if you prefer. The challenge to suggest a thirty-five minutes opening epic (all instrumental) was quite daring but substantially failed IMHHO. Some good moments for sure (flute of course) but globally very few interesting parts are shown in here.

Some good and fine "Renaissance" flavour while vocalized parts are being "sung". Just as some ELP good keyboard parts as well. Be prepared for this and accept this album for what it is: a shy counterpart of some of the great music we love. But there are too many jazzy items to really please my ears.

To rate this work with more than three stars doesn't sound at all logic in my opinion. Average all the way through. Acceptable sax and backing vocalized parts are the essence of the title epic. Don't expect more from this album. The closing part of this song has much to share with the great "Watcher Of ?" which you might have heard of. A fine ending for this thirty-five minutes song. An ultimate long song doesn't always mean great!

One gets a condensed version of the music from "Kotebel" with the Crimsonesque "The River". Some good chunk of improvisations, jazzy and crazy guitar flavours are presented. Let's acknowledge that the superb guitar work is holding this piece together and raises the album to the next level. And of course some sublime fluting and mellotron parts during the closing section of "The River".

When classical meets complex. Without extravaganza. Three stars.

I really understand why this band (band? At least with this album is just a one man project: multi instrumentist Carlos Plaza) has got so much praise in here. They are spanish, but really, they could be from anywhere. There is nothing overtly spanish here. Symphonic prog with heavy orchestration and choir, but that´s about it. Two long compositions, very classical, but without much cohesion or continuity. It sounds a lot like a serie of small pieces put together to sound like a long track. Obvious King Crimson influences on some parts, ELP keys on others. The River, the second epic is a little better, and has some real nice flutes on it plus a few good guitar parts. It has a little more flow (pun intended) and it´s way more interesting than the title track, specially the last segment. Still, not quite convincing as a whole. But if this project follow this direction, I guess they might have a chance. I´m curious to hear Kotebel´s follow ups.

Overall production is good.

Final rating: 2.5 stars.

At this early point of Kotebel's career Carlos Plaza always shook a bit the line-up of his project.For the second recording of Kotebel Plaza was helped, besides Acosta and Garcia, by Carolina Prieto on choirs and cellist Franscisco Ochando.The group had already signed a contract with the French label Musea and in 2002 ''Mysticae Visiones'' saw the light.

The compositions of Plaza become even more ambitious and daring with this work.It consists of only two tracks, the eponymous one clocking at almost 36 minutes (!), divided in twelve movements.Stylistically though not much has changed.This epic suite by Kotebel evokes the sound of THE ENID at their most Classical-inspired parts with sporadic use of guitars and flute but an extreme one of various keyboards and piano.This long structure contains tons of piano interludes, synth-driven solos and symphonic keyboards, creating both grandiose and more atmospheric soundscapes.But it is a fact that the best of it comes out when Plaza and his collaborators are in full mode, producing melodic yet demanding Symphonic Rock, while when the flutes are also in use there is even a light Canterbury flavor dominating the listening.There are also some cosmic operatic vocals by Prieto and nice cello passages here and there, while there are also moments where Kotebel's music has a slightly jazzy approach.Some long and nervous synth-drenched parts with a questionable sound are my only complaint about this composition.The second track ''The river'', about 15 minutes long, is actually more of the same, though somesort of ethnic influences are more than apparent at the opening moments.This is actually a more balanced effort by Plaza, who combines Classical, Progressive and Ethnic Music inspirations in the same track with comfort.''The River'' has a Progressive Rock feel all the way through with little references to pure Classical Music, as guitars, bass and flutes are used more often, its atmosphere is quite grandiose as expected, but the lack of some striking melodies prooves to be a rather negative factor.

No question, Plaza and Kotebel seem at this point to be the next big thing regarding the Symphonic Rock genre.Rich, atmospheric and well-composed instrumental symphonic textures are again the basic rules for ''Mysticae Visiones''.A must-have for fans of THE ENID, a good introduction to Kotebel's music for the rest.