THIRD CALL

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Their debut album was not the greatest prog album of the decade but. I rounded my rating up to three stars for being myself half-Mexican and feeling pretty close to this country and its people (FYI my wife is Mexican).

The opening number of their third album "Where the Wind" brings some hopes that this album will be better. Very soft atmosphere during the major part of the song. Very nice keys and vocals. This number sounds very much like Genesis ("Selling" era). The next song is a tasteless track. "Sleeping Fortress" is structureless, melody-less, anything- less actually.

"Time In Space" sounds truely neo-prog. It even shows some influence on the work of a band as Arena. Heavy at times yet melodious. The intro is full of harmony and when the vocals make their entry, it is all sweetness. Very accessible. In general, Cast will generate rather complex numbers. The off-beat instrumental section is quite remarkable. A highlight.

"Door Of The World" is the longest track of this album (just over fifteen minutes). It will be the occasion for Cast to display their admiration to both Genesis and ELP. They do it with some brilliant musicianship, but they lack in passion and enthusiasm. For some parts of it, "Tarkus" is no doubt the central piece of inspiration. It finally evolves into a more personal (at last) style. Rather convincing to be honest. This is probably the best song featured on this work.

"Static Dreams" sounds very poppish, which is rather scarce to be mentioned. Very nice melodies and flute playing (yes, I LOVE flute). This is one very pleasant moment of the album. Completely unforseen and therefore interesting. Give us more songs like this, Cast ! Its struture is not complex as most of their compositions. This surprising break sounds as a nice breeze of fresh air. My fave here.

Cast produces again a very nice song with "I Am Waiting". Very Trespass-esque, hence tranquil. Genesis is also there with "Veto Ben". But it is more the Genesis from "Wind And Wuthering" or even "And Then We Were Three". Still, not too bad. It is the only short number of this effort.

For the very first itme, Cast will also propose inspired vocals in "House By The Forest". Dino Brassea sounding like Fish in the magnificent "Script". But there are poorer points of comparison, right ? Music, again very much Trespass oriented.

This album is very pleasant. Most of the composition are of decent lenght (almost over the seven minutes format). It is a lot catchier than their dull debut album. The music is not really speaking for itself at the first listening. You'll have to come back to it to appreciate better. Keep on with the good work Cast !

If you like bands like ELP and Genesis and are not too much concerned about a certain lack in originality, this album is for you. It is worth a spin. Seven out of ten. For the reasons I have mentioned in the begining of this review, I will upgrade it to four stars.

The dynamic entry of Cast in professional discography continues with the ''Third call'', another album released in 1994.This time the band displays four compositions from 1989, in one of the rare opportunities the band had to move on to some proper recordings of its material (without the presence of Dino Brassea), and four more pieces, which were composed during 94'.It was also the third private release by the band, which still failed to attract any interest from the major Prog labels.

First half of the album is captured by the old material of the group.It is a nice combination of dynamic Neo Prog and 80's-suffering Symphonic Rock with lots of keyboard textures and melodic lines, a bit similar to Italian bands such as CALLIOPE, SITHONIA or ATON'S, with emphasis on symphonic themes, sensitive English vocals and discreet electric guitars.There are evident AOR flavors is some pompous keyboard ideas and a tendency towards incosistent, melodramatic singing by Francisco Hernadez, but the arrangements are pretty strong, especially during the 15-min. long ''Door of the world'', which passes through some complex structures and even contains some nice organ parts.Unfortunately the sound quality is rather mediocre, lowering the true value of the compositions.The second half of ''Third call'', now with the addition of Dino Brassea on vocals, is more convincing and solid.It reminds me often of the Greek band APOCALYPSIS, refining their GENESIS influence in updated forms of synth/piano-drenched Symphonic Rock with plenty of interesting melodies, bombastic keyboard waves and flashy synthesizer flights.Guitars have now a more consistent role, although the material remains mostly keyboard-driven with a touch of E.L.P./RICK WAKEMAN in the more complicated passages and a certain level of quality regarding the compositions.Long, instrumental parts with symphonic references and energetic moves guarantee a pretty nice result.

Pitty, because the band still walked silently during the time, failing to be discovered by the scouting of the European, American or Japanese market.Solid Neo/Symphonic Prog with excellent keyboard work and evident vintage blinks.Recommended.