ARION

One of Brazil's finest progressive rock bands of the 21st century, ARION began with the moniker Magma in 1993 at the University of Viçosa but sensibly was renamed after somebody realized that in the world of progressive rock at least, that name was already taken by powerful legends. Despite the name snafu, ARION was indeed progressive rock but not of the zeuhl variety but rather instead performed a very English flavor of symphonic prog that was a unique mix of Renaissance, ELP and Yes along only along with the more contemporary sounds of the Argentinean band Nexus.

ARION only released this one self-titled album that came out in 2001 with the lineup of Sérgio Paolucci (keyboards), Luciano Soares (electric guitar), Tânia Braz (vocals, acoustic guitar), Nelson Rosa (drums, vocals) and Carlos Linhares (bass, acoustic guitar, vocals). The album was originally released by the Progressive Rock Worldwide (PRW) label but was re-issued in 2006 by the French label Musea which as any true fan of prog knows is an indicating factor of true prog excellence and as far as Brazilian prog bands go, ARION is the real deal having been named one of the best prog bands of all Brazil.

Despite emerging from the southern hemisphere, ARION does not even remotely sound like a Latin American band at all but rather perfectly adopted an English retro sound that most closely resembles 1970s Renaissance thanks to Tânia Braz' dead ringer ability to emulate the great Annie Haslam which she does effortlessly. Yeah, this is one of those albums that you could swear is a long lost example of a band that just didn't get around to releasing it because the nonchalant dynamics and the symphonic prog accoutrements are totally convincing of such especially on the opening tracks "Eyes Of Time," "Daybreak Child" and "True Love" but with the fourth track "Land Of Dreams" the instrumental aspect of the band's performance exudes some Keith Emerson keyboard antics and even Braz' vocals sound more like Grace Slick than Annie Haslam.

While most of the album is sung in English and obviously slated for an international market, the closing "Naturaleza Mística" is sung in Portuguese by the male guest vocalist Thyaga. For the most part ARION pulls off this album much like a neo-prog album with instantly accessible melodies that find the stellar keyboard richness working in tandem with the punchy bass lines while the guitars and drums are somewhat subordinate. The vocals are clearly the star of the show here and rightfully so considering how pleasant Braz' singing style is despite the Annie Haslam similarities. I mean, who doesn't want more Annie even if it's a Brazilian imitator? Hehe. While the music is generally focused on the main compositional framework, there are occasional keyboard solos.

The compositions never really get wild and fiery and the primary reference point is Renaissance's masterwork "Scheherazade and Other Stories" although the songs aren't nearly as accomplished at that timeless classic. It's true that this band is very much a derivative of the English bands that influenced it but ARION does such a wonderful job in bringing it all together that it's impossible not to fall under the spell of this enchanting Brazilian one-shot that crafts a beautiful slice of melody driven symphonic prog. More than just a curiosity ARION performed with bands like Quidam, Tryo, Xang and even Focus and Caravan but didn't have the wherewithal to stick around beyond this debut. Despite the influences being worn too liberally on their sleeves, i'm still smitten by this sole ARION album.