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TEMPUS FUGIT

Symphonic Prog • Brazil


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Tempus Fugit picture
Tempus Fugit biography
When the century was dying, Andre Mello (Keyboard, vocals) and drummer Marcio de Almeyda (Former Visagem) joined to form a new band, almost immediately they recruited their two friends Bernard (bass) and guitarist Henrique Henrique Simões, but after a couple weeks Bernard decided to pursue his designing career and left the band, being replaced by Henrique's cousin Rolando Simões (later replaced by André Luiz).

This lineup recorded their first two songs that later became part of their debut "Tales from a Forgotten World" which was released in 1997 with Ary Moura who took Marcio's place as drummer of TEMPUS FUGIT.

From the start it was obvious that the band decided to keep alive the spirit of the 70's, with a relatively strong YES, CAMEL and MARILLIOJN influence, but a unique touch that only Brazilian bands can provide, the album was well received in the States but became really accepted in Continental Europe and specially in Japan, where they became some sort of minor icons.

With the same formation plus two guests (Marco Aurêh - flute on "O Dom de Voar" and Fernando Sierpe - vocals on "Discover"), the band releases their second album called "The Dawn After the Storm" (1997), and this time they hit the nail right in the head. If their debut was solid, this time they surpassed the expectations and gave us one of the best Brazilian albums full of lush keyboards and fresh ideas.

The next years live was like a roller coaster, they had tours and were invited to the most important festivals because everybody liked their style that combined nostalgia for the fiorst golden Symphonic era, with a modern twist. But as in any normal roller coaster they had their downs, like when they couldn't go to Baja Prog, because they were not able to get the money for the tickets (The eternal problem of Latin America bands), but on the other hand, they were able to play in Buenos Aires with Anekdoten, Nexus and many prestigious local bands.

In the dawn of the new century, TEMPUS FUGIT started to work in their third record, which only saw the light in 2008 only one change in the band (Andre Mello instead of Andre Luiz) and the name "Chessboard", an album that places them in the border that divides Symphonic from Neo Prog with a clear IQ, early GENESIS and KYRIE ELEISON influence, in other words, they demonstrated us during their career a great versatility and the capacity of combining different genres, styles and moods with special dexterity...
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TEMPUS FUGIT discography


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TEMPUS FUGIT top albums (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

3.77 | 86 ratings
Tales from a Forgotten World
1997
3.95 | 84 ratings
The Dawn After the Storm
1999
3.87 | 89 ratings
Chessboard
2008

TEMPUS FUGIT Live Albums (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

2.87 | 18 ratings
Live - Official Bootleg Feb'98
1999

TEMPUS FUGIT Videos (DVD, Blu-ray, VHS etc)

TEMPUS FUGIT Boxset & Compilations (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

TEMPUS FUGIT Official Singles, EPs, Fan Club & Promo (CD, EP/LP, MC, Digital Media Download)

TEMPUS FUGIT Reviews


Showing last 10 reviews only
 Chessboard by TEMPUS FUGIT album cover Studio Album, 2008
3.87 | 89 ratings

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Chessboard
Tempus Fugit Symphonic Prog

Review by DamoXt7942
Forum & Site Admin Group Avant/Cross/Neo/Post Teams

4 stars What a fruitful, dramatic creation. "Chessboard" was released as the third album by a Brazilian symphonic progressive act TEMPUS FUGIT. It would have been natural that they shifted their soundscape toward kind of IQ / Marillion-y neo- progressive trend in this opus (especially the first shot "Pontos de Fuga") but at the same time we are glad to find they strongly kept their personal symphonic activity in the depth of every single song.

"Pontos de Fuga Part 2", one of my favourite songs, involves fascinating melody lines flavoured with excessive great guitar cryings and sharp-edged keyboard performances. Based upon their superb strict rhythmic turf, complicated sound collective can be digested smoothly. Feel their power in the whole world. "Unfair World" is another calmness. We can listen to this song safe and sound due to their instrumental technique and precision, accuracy (maybe plus melodic popness and catchiness). Regardless of the song's development, their sound totality cannot be twisted nor frayed. It's fantastic.

Also in the following track "Only To Be With You", the keyboard playings tighten and colour the song. Beautiful keyboard solos definitely ring our inner bells. Another mystery is that their tight sounds can be neither depressive nor negative but delightful and passionate. After a dreamy fantasy "The Princess", the masterpiece eponymously titled gets started with impressive keyboard works and enthusiastic rhythmic constructions. Guitar sounds are also solid and unwavering. Colourful sound images by all instruments are deployed, without any awkwardness. The last run "The Leaving" sounds slightly simpler and flatter than other ones but hey, it would be kind of a strategy to relieve us I imagine?

Entirely encouraging! They've released some singles via their YouTube channel. Looking forward to their upcoming album.

 Chessboard by TEMPUS FUGIT album cover Studio Album, 2008
3.87 | 89 ratings

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Chessboard
Tempus Fugit Symphonic Prog

Review by Warthur
Prog Reviewer

5 stars It's rather ironic that a band whose name means "time flies" should have nearly a decade pass between their second and third albums. Still, Chessboard proves to be more than worth the wait. An exuberant album in an IQ-inspired neo-prog mode, it might not be the most original thing out there, but as with the band's excellent debut the group more than make up for this with soaring performances and great compositions which grab the listener hard and don't let go until the last chord has sounded. With the emphasis so firmly on the instrumental sections, the portions with vocals are essentially punctuation, though vocals have never been the band's strong point so this is very much for the best.
 The Dawn After the Storm by TEMPUS FUGIT album cover Studio Album, 1999
3.95 | 84 ratings

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The Dawn After the Storm
Tempus Fugit Symphonic Prog

Review by Warthur
Prog Reviewer

3 stars I was extremely impressed by Tempus Fugit's debut album, Tales From a Forgotten World, but I found The Dawn After the Storm to be something of a disappointment. To my ears, the production sounds a little thin at points, and the songwriting seems to have suffered a little too. The band still do a decent job of applying a uniquely Brazilian approach to neo-prog and melodic rock, but the instrumental passages this time do not enchant me the way the extended workouts on the debut did, and the vocal performances seem to have lost something too. Worth a listen if you like the idea of combining traditional Brazilian music with neo-prog, but I'd say the debut is a much better place to start.
 Tales from a Forgotten World by TEMPUS FUGIT album cover Studio Album, 1997
3.77 | 86 ratings

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Tales from a Forgotten World
Tempus Fugit Symphonic Prog

Review by Warthur
Prog Reviewer

5 stars The debut album by Tempus Fugit is a compelling neo-prog piece which combines graceful vocal sections (which remind me a great deal of 1990s Pendragon - there's the same gentle melodicism you can hear on the classic The Window of Life at work here) with extremely extensive and varied instrumental passages which combine the best of Genesis and early IQ, and here and there add in a flavour of traditional Brazilian music (see, for instance, the acoustic guitar section on The Lord of a Thousand Tales) to allow Tempus Fugit to put their own distinctive stamp on proceedings.

True, none of this sounds particularly original, though Fugit's performances take this album to the next level - as with the best works of their influences, this is the sort of music which feels like it is taking you on a journey, and which is it a sheer pleasure to just put on whilst you sit back, close your eyes, and let your imagination run riot. Yes, it's a rather derivative style of prog which tends towards adhering to a formula. But in this case, Tempus Fugit have hit on a formula for turning base neo-prog into gold.

 Chessboard by TEMPUS FUGIT album cover Studio Album, 2008
3.87 | 89 ratings

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Chessboard
Tempus Fugit Symphonic Prog

Review by toroddfuglesteg

3 stars The third and so far final Tempus Fugit albums offers some really nice symphonic prog.

Tempus Fugit from Brazil has got a reputation as one of the better new generation symphonic prog bands from South America. On this album, they are taking up the legacy left from both the great South American symphonic prog bands and the English symphonic prog bands like Genesis and Camel.

The music on Chessboard is mostly pastoral, toned down symphonic prog with both long guitar solos and keyboard runs. The pretty good vocals is also pretty memorable here. It is pretty obvious Camel is a huge influence on both Tempus Fugit and this album. But they also mix in other influences and styles. Pink Floyd anno the 1980s to 1990s for example.

The music is good and ticks over nicely throughout. But the music also feels a bit anonymous and does not really speaks to me. Tempus Fugit is a superb band, but the art of making really interesting music is a bit absent on this album. There are some really good melody lines throughout and the guitarist is really great. But besides of that; the album is good and nothing more. Good and non-offensive.

3 stars

 The Dawn After the Storm by TEMPUS FUGIT album cover Studio Album, 1999
3.95 | 84 ratings

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The Dawn After the Storm
Tempus Fugit Symphonic Prog

Review by kenethlevine
Special Collaborator Prog-Folk Team

3 stars After a stunning if somewhat naive debut, TEMPUS FUGIT fell to the sophomore jinx. While the overall symphonic style and components are intact and the quality of production improved, something is missing here that was present in spades on "Tales from a Forgotten World" and rekindled on "Chessboard" many years later. I may be remiss, and hindsight is 20/20 after all, but this intangible might explain why the group entered an extended hiatus not long after this release. The synchronicity took leave before the band, as is too often the case.

I take issue with the unconvincing toughening of the group's sound as on the title cut and rather mundane melodies of pieces like "Daydream", and the unfulfilled buildup of "The Fortress", resorting to more caterwauling instead of the trademark dramatics. Even the mellower and pleasant "Never" sounds almost MORish next to the brilliance of the infrequent but emotive vocal tunes we had heard previously.

Luckily, there is one significant area of growth apart from the technological improvements, and that is the group's more ready embrace of their generally sublimated Brazilian roots. This is felt chiefly on the Portuguese titled instrumental tracks "Tocanda Voce" and "O Doam de Voar" with their acoustic guitar flourishes, in the latter blended with cascading keyboards that alone could put the British masters to shame if they weren't already in such a transcendent setting. "The Sight" is the most alluring of the 3 vocal tracks thanks to a rich bass line and suspenseful melody. Mello's vocals are less significant here than the instrumentation, and a better balance would be achieved years hence. "Discover" is another credible performance with an especially effective change of scene bisecting its 8 minutes.

Overall, this weaker effort reflects not so much dawn as the dusk of this phase of the TEMPUS FUGIT story, yet it remains a worthwhile if less essential group release. Like in twilight, individual forms are less discernible and the overall view is not so coherent. Yet in other areas, particularly the hotblooded Latin nature of Luiz' acoustic guitar, the group has grown, or at least branched out successfully. A long and apparently bountiful night would follow, from which TEMPUS FUGIT would emerge robustly.

 Chessboard by TEMPUS FUGIT album cover Studio Album, 2008
3.87 | 89 ratings

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Chessboard
Tempus Fugit Symphonic Prog

Review by kenethlevine
Special Collaborator Prog-Folk Team

4 stars While the symphonic meets neo sound of TEMPUS FUGIT remains largely intact over 10 years after their 1997 debut, several significant alterations can be discerned. It's clearly not a group that wants to sit still, but at the same time they seem to have a consistent vision of the influence they wish to exert on the progressive scene.

Bassist André Ribeiro adds a new dimension, crooning expressive lines like a sultry sax player in a mildly jazzy Camel style. Vocalist André Mello has become more confident, and while he'll not ever be a PETER GABRIEL or a PETER HAMMILL, I would argue that the group would suffer under such a powerful singer, and Mello's voice is more simpatico with the group's wistful and mellow orientation. Perhaps because of his improvement, this is a more vocal oriented album, with 5 of the 8 tracks containing sung parts - this is achieved without dulling the band's instrumental sheen in the slightest and without resorting to conventional song structures. The other change I note is an ever so slightly more aggressive edge , nothing to convert metal fanatics or scare away us peaceniks, but more in the manner of several groups that rose to prominence in the earlier part of the 2000s, chiefly CLEPSYDRA and SATELLITE. The vocal parts tend to be more mellow, but not exclusively

All the tracks here are very good, with perhaps the best being in the middle. "Unfair World" shifts from a languid symphonic ballad to more of a neo progger with ease. "Only to be with You's opening 3 minutes may well be the highlight of the album especially if you can't get enough early instrumental CAMEL, while the rest is more vocal oriented in the vein of early SEBASTIEN HARDIE. Then there is the fairy tale like purity of "The Princess", TEMPUS FUGIT's nearest approximation to a hit, and it would be deserving. The second part of the track is a masterful lead guitar led work that positions Henrique Simões somewhere on the path to MIREK GIL via JOHN LEES. Heaven!

The closing and title tracks are also strong, perhaps only slightly less riveting even though I hear some tribute to fellow romantic Brazilians SAGRADO and 14 BIS in Mello's crooning on the closer, as well as some surprisingly dramatic vocal passages toward the end, that recall early GENESIS and KYRIE ELEISON.

I know that TEMPUS FUGIT are going places with their sound, and would like to think the same for their recognition but I know better. Their moves may not result in a commercial windfall, but I also see little danger of a stalemate.

 Tales from a Forgotten World by TEMPUS FUGIT album cover Studio Album, 1997
3.77 | 86 ratings

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Tales from a Forgotten World
Tempus Fugit Symphonic Prog

Review by kenethlevine
Special Collaborator Prog-Folk Team

4 stars This modern symphonic group prioritizes the melodic and gentle side of the sub genre. Although from Brazil, TEMPUS FUGIT is so infused with the British masters and apprentices that the Latin influences are indeed subtle if present. Their debut is not "challenging" in any sense, but is wistful and ultimately happy, with plenty of smooth shifts of mood and instrumentation, primarily synthesizers offset with other keys, and electric and acoustic guitars. Vocals are rare, appearing in less than half the tracks, but the music is colourful and indeed lyrical enough to carry the fantastical, if vague, themes.

For reference, apart from the big symphonic names, I hear ELOY, particularly the luscious "Planets" era in "Bornera"; the Bahrain group OSIRIS for the extended but controlled jams; RENAISSANCE in the piano rolls of "The City and the Crystal"; and even neo prog a la PENDRAGON on the more vocal oriented pieces like "Song for a Distant Land". TEMPUS FUGIT also reminds me of a less manic and more instrumentally oriented version of the Mexican group CAST.

It's hard to pick out high points and even harder to underline any weaknesses other than perhaps a general lack of distinctiveness, but the material is so uniformly strong that I have to give it a thumbs up, and "The Goblin's Trail" and "Princess Vanessa" can be lapped up eagerly by any sentimental old fool who wants the old style with modern production. "The Lord of a Thousand Tales" amply fills the role of symphonic epic, with something for everyone and everything for more than a few.

If you have read this far and don't have this album, time is flying so why not set aside some for these tales before they really are forgotten.

 Tales from a Forgotten World by TEMPUS FUGIT album cover Studio Album, 1997
3.77 | 86 ratings

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Tales from a Forgotten World
Tempus Fugit Symphonic Prog

Review by toroddfuglesteg

3 stars Great debut album from these symphonic progsters from Brazil.

When the album start like a tribute to Eloy........ you know you are in for a ride. In particular when the band is named after a Yes song. And just let me sort this out once and for all. This album is by no means a Yes tribute album. Their DNA profile can be found here, yes. But this album also have a lot of other DNA profiles. Where do I start and where do I stop ? There is no point. I would say some Krautrock and a lot of Symphonic Prog. Tales From a Forgotten World is a stew which should cater for most tastes.

......... Which may explain why it is a bit difficult to penetrate during the first listening sessions. It is both so arch-typical Symphonic Prog and so varied in it's form that it has problems making an impact. The lack of any real great melody lines also blights this album. Besides of that, this is a great melodic symphonic prog album.

The instruments used here is the standard setup. Synths and electric guitars does the many solos here. Bass and drums rumbles on in the background. The vocalist is fairly decent without really impressing. But he is OK for this type of music.

My main gripe is the lack of any real great tracks or even signature tracks here. That is why this is only a three stars album for me. But it will stay on my frequent play list and I may upgrade later on to four stars. But after ten listening sessions, three stars would have to do. But being a debut album, this is a very good effort. I have their Chessboard album too and I will also give that some thorough spins.

3.5 stars

 The Dawn After the Storm by TEMPUS FUGIT album cover Studio Album, 1999
3.95 | 84 ratings

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The Dawn After the Storm
Tempus Fugit Symphonic Prog

Review by seventhsojourn
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator

4 stars Tempus Fugit is another of those bands that I planned to review at some future date, but after reading an interview with the band here on ProgArchives I thought that now would be a good time to post a review or two. In case any of you don't know, there is a fine Interviews section within the forums. Many of these interviews are the fruits of a very hard-working collaborator's labours. Now, I'm aware that camels can withstand long periods without water but apparently they can also do without sleep!

Anyway, Tempus Fugit is a contemporary Brazilian band and The Dawn After The Storm (1999) is the title of their second album. They are a symphonic band in the mould of their compatriots Dogma and Quaterna Requiem, and have clearly been inspired by the likes of Genesis, Camel and Yes. The Dawn is a mainly instrumental work, with only 3 of the 9 tracks containing vocals. Andre Mello's English-language vocals are absolutely fine, but for me the strength of the album lies in its lengthy instrumentals. The one song I would single out is the album closer, DISCOVER, which actually features guest vocalist Fernando Sierpe. This song isn't exceptional for its vocals; it's just a superb piece of music. From gentle acoustic guitar and mandolin beginnings it develops into a full-throttle rocker with Wakeman-esque Mini-Moog, and climaxes with a guitar solo underpinned by rumbling bass and choral effects.

The album also opens in dramatic fashion with DAYDREAM. There are more of those choral effects here; I don't believe a Mellotron produces them, but they sound great in any case. This track features wonderful interplay between the guitar and keyboards, but Henrique Simoes' haunting guitar solos deserves special praise. DAYDREAM segues into sound effects of a storm that heralds the multi-part title track. This is a symphonic poem that wonderfully interprets each of the 4 parts of the piece. Atmospheric-sounding strings and Mini-Moog give way to a catchy refrain with Andy Latimer-style guitarwork, followed by a heavy section, then another melodic part to resolve the piece. THE FORTRESS also features marked changes in tempo and dynamics, with Mello's classically inspired piano/strings intro and Moog figures contrasting with the rampaging guitar solos.

The other main highlights are TOCANDO VOCE with its exquisite 2-minute acoustic guitar and mandolin introduction, and the delicate O DOM DE VOAR with its piano, flamenco guitar and flute ensemble. There really isn't a bad track here and if you're a fan of melodic prog you'll relish this album. I think you might be left wanting more of the same, but the good news is that they have another couple of studio albums for you to explore.

Thanks to Ivan_Melgar_M for the artist addition. and to Quinino for the last updates

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