ESAMERON

This band is a new discovery for me. The only modern Zeuhl I am familiar with is the Japanese variety. Runaway Totem is from Italy. These guys are just as good as any Zeuhl from France or Japan. I listened to this album 5-6 times on their website; this was my first introduction to this band. So far, I have to say I am pleased with what I hear. All of the band's albums, except the 2009 one, can be listened to in their entirety for free on their website. You can hear excerpts from the newest album but it's understandable that you cannot hear the whole thing; it is their latest album and they are trying to promote it. I am very thankful that I can listen to their previous albums. For your generosity you may be financially rewarded in the future.

There are only two members here. Since this is the first album I have heard, I don't know if other albums have more members or not. What these two do here is great however. Using PA terminology, the music here sounds like a mix of Zeuhl, RPI, Avant-Prog and Heavy Prog. The sounds of the choirs, violin and flute are done on samplers. They use "real" drums and piano here which is a bonus. The first time I listened to this the sound of the snare drum got on my nerves. On repeated listenings I got used to it. Overall, I enjoyed this album the more I listened to it.

Although the songs are very long they seem to fly by because of the strength of the music. Only "Lux" and "0 Infinito" have actual vocals, sung in Italian. They remind me of that fat guy from Banco. There is a part during "Infinito" where there is double-tracked vocals which sound good. You can hear a crowd laughing at one point. Part of this song reminds me of Univers Zero. There is a part with mainly choir and piano which I think goes on a bit too long. "Ombra Alata" has an interesting dissonant part. "Lux" has a nice guitar-synth solo.

In general I am very impressed. I am going to check out the rest of their discography starting with the first and working my way up. I am being very cautious with my rating. This is my first exposure to this band so I may like some of their other albums more than this. All I can say for sure is that this does not deserve any less than 3 stars!