SAECULA SAECULORUM

Made in Brazil.

The first minutes of this album starts out as an Mahavisnu Orchestra album and I am starting to wonder if I put the wrong CD in my CD player. The violins here are pretty jazzy. But the music enters a more familiar territory after a while. The opening track, the title track no less, is pretty jazzy because of the violin which drives it along from a to z.

The rest of the album is pretty much in the Renaissance, Nice and Yes area. It is heavy influenced by the classic composer Handel in addition to bands like PFM from the Italian scene. The sound is pretty open though. The main instruments is the violin, piano, keyboards, the pretty good vocalist and the bass. There are some guitars too and off course the drums.

The quality is pretty good throughout. Saecula Saeculorum had their own style and this album is an odd one out in the symphonic prog scene. Unfortunate, the songs are not that good though. I find them a bit stagnant. This album is also over-saturated by the violin. The vocals could had been better and more in the foreground in the mix. But it is still a good album.

3.25 stars

Oh,those were the days! In the midseventies seeing a good prog act was somethying of a distant dream. Brazil was still am exotic, faraway country for most international bands and national groups only rarely did shows in my hometown. But we did have our own heroes in Saecula Saeculorum. They played some highly acclaimed shows and, needless to say, were followed everywhere by progheads (me included).We were very proud of them. They did recorded some songs but broke up before it was released (maybe that explains its short time). In fact, it took decades to be put out, as far as I know - the releasing date must be wrong. And although we were saddned by their demise, their young violinist Marcus Viana carried on with his own group, the now famous Sagrado Coração da Terra.

Hearing this CD nowadays brings me back in time and although the group did not succeed much in translating their electrifying live performances into the studio, it is still excellent music. Their mix of symphonic rock (a la italian bands like PFM and Banco) with West Coast acid rock (including the lyrics, all sung in portuguese) was quite interesting and unique. Some of the stuff even reminds me of another seminal brazilian band, Os Mutantes, although much less anarchic and without the humor. There are lots of classical piano parts and great violin riffs that recall Darryl Wolf´s (Curved Air) style. Vocals were performed by guitarrist Jose Audisio with help from keyboards player Giacomo Lombardi and teh aforementioned Marcus Viana

With a good production for the time, this CD is recommended to anyone who likes 70´s classical symphonic rock music. Fans of Sagrado Coração Da Terra and Marcus Viana will be delighted to discover that band´s roots.

The shortlived Brazilian Symphonic Rock Band, Saecula Saeculorum delivered an extremely good album, with great musicianship and the combination of symphonic arrangements with great guitar, bass and drums is superb. The violin (played by Marcus Viana, the mastermind behind Sagrado Coração da Familia) and the virtuosistic piano create rich symphonic textures. The vocals are mellow and beautiful.

All the songs are great. The lenghty Saecula Saeculorum, with a stunning intro with majestic piano and violin. Great guitar and violin interplay and a good organ and choir passage. Acqua Vitae has a jazzy piano riff and guitar solo in the middle, before a pure classical piano passage. Eu quero ver o Sol has a great piano intro and a superb guitar solo in the middle. Constelação de Aquarius has great piano and violin arrangements. The song is short, but the instrumental arrangement is fantastic. Radio no peito features good playing, beautiful singing and a beautiful piano arrangement in the end of the song.

A pity that the band survived for a short period and they released only one album, which is very rare even here in Brazil. This is a symphonic rock masterpiece and one of the best Brazilian progressive rock bands.

Saecula Saeculorum is a kind of forerunner of the famous Sagrado Coração da Terra: born in (brazilian state of) Minas Geraes with the great violinist Marcus Vianna. However, unforttunately, the band had short life, borning and dying at seventies. This unique album is a good sample of brazilian symphonic prog rock of these days, very creative, really amazing. My favorite songs are ""Constelação de Aquarius" and "Acqua Vitae". Add it to your collection.

Saecula Saeculorum (it means for ever) is a brazillian prog-band from middle of seventies. All songs are sung in portuguese (not spanish!!), except the first track: sung in portuguese and latin language. According to AMG, this album is a collection of several demo tapes preserved from that period, without their gigs. Their style is very close to folk-progressive, with harmonic violin, solos guitar, piano, bass and drums. Unfortunatelly, the band release just one album. We never heard about them anymore, only about Marcus Viana, who created Sacred Sound of the Earth and made a famous solo career in Brazil, playing progressive rock, movies soundtracks and New Age. Well, I can say Saecula was one of best brazillian prog-bands, they made a perfect marriage between classical music and rock, not forgetting to add brazillian elements. You can check Saecula music buying their CD by mail: http://www.sonhosesons.com.br/pgcatalogo.htm

The only album by this group is an excellent work. I think it is rather original as well. The excellent violinist Marcus Viana and the pianist Giacomo Lombardi lead the music. It is a very short album, clocking only a little over 28 minutes, but this is a minor issue because the music is of high quality. Really, it is one of the best seventies South-American albums and especially if you like prog with a strong classical influence. I'm not sure but it could be that this album was released for the first time only in 1996, twenty years after it was recorded.

The first song that carries the group's name is fantastic with superb piano and violin work. The second track "Acqua Vitae" with beautiful piano is easily as good. The remaining three tracks are excellent as well.

Conclusion: An excellent album.