VOLUME 7

Some twenty years after their debut album, two musicians are still on board of this amazing Brazilian band. Fabio Golfetti (the brain) on guitars and vocals as well as Claudio Souza on drums have been able to keep the essence of their music throughout all those years (even if the latter was not always present).

The music available on their prior albums was seriously early Floyd influenced and the overall headed towards the late sixties psychedelic movement. Nothing new then, but the band was always faithful to his origin and kept playing this type of music quite well I must say. The only work which was maybe somewhat behind was their prior "Ilhas".

This seventh album opens on a brilliant rock song which features a great guitar break (but this is a trade mark for Violeta). The following "Caravana" is more on the jazzy angle and includes brilliant keys solo. As usual, the soft voice from Fabio conveys such a gentle atmosphere.

The rhythm of "Broken Legs" is quite upbeat and the organ is pretty sustained as well. This hasn't always been the case on prior works but it adds some nice flavour to the cake. It provides a certain heavy prog feel to the whole which is quite different to their earlier recordings. "Em Cada Instante" is another and very good example.

It is also the first time that the band plays longer songs than usual. "Pequenos Seres Errantes" almost clocks at eight minutes and opens on a nice and melodic spacey keyboards intro full of sweetness. It ends up in a wild and tortured psychedelia. This is another very enjoyable track by all means!

The well named "Ponto de Transição" leads to the epic and closing song from this album. "Fronteira" conveys a jazzy atmosphere during the intro, which is again very much keyboards oriented. The pace sets back for a while and leaves the place for a melodic and sweet vocal part. No shouts here: pure melody my prog friends! This song reminds me of the great "Santana" period of "Caravanserai" (except for the guitar of course even if it appears during some parts of "Fronteira").

This album is quite different from their previous ones. It is less psychedelic and more symphonic jazz oriented. There are more keyboards (excellent work from Fernando Cardoso) and much less guitar. It is still their best effort to date IMHHO. Seven out of ten, but upgraded to four stars. Multo bon!