CRISALIDA

ESPIRITU's "Crisalida" is an above-average album influenced by YES, early GENESIS, and some of the early Italian prog bands. The band focuses on creating mellow interaction between the analog keyboards, electric and acoustic guitar, and vocals. Although nothing gets as complex as other symphonic prog bands like CRUCIS, CATHEDRAL, or SHYLOCK, the music here is far from simple. Themes are introduced, developed, and then appear from time to time as the album unfolds. A concept album, I'm almost sure? Unfortunately, I can't tell from listening to the lyrics. Recently, someone told me that "Crisalida" was released around 1973 (the CD label has no info). This fact blew me away, because I would have placed the album as a 1979/1980 release. The music here was several years ahead of its time.