VOCES DEL BOSQUE

Fast forward in 2009 Astralis, having produced some noise around their name with ''Bienvenida al interior'', release their second album ''Voces del bosque''.As with their debut the album was exclusively recorded at the band's own studio in Santiago de Chile, this time though with a new keyboardist, as Mauricio Gaggero had took over the duties in the place of Juan Pablo Gaete.''Voces del bosque'' was delivered through Mylodon Records and once more the compositions were all credited to the band's leader Patricio Vera-Pinto.

The style has not changed dramatically.It is a somewhat less symphonic and more atmospheric Neo Prog effort with downtempo arrangements offered through six long compositions with Vera-Pinto's guitar work in evidence and nice keyboard colors supporting.With links to the emphatic Polish Prog stylings and notable references to the sound of PENDRAGON, PALLAS and MARILLION, ''Voces del bosque'' explores the more accesible territories of Neo Prog with expressive vocals, strong guitar solos, bombastic riffs and striking melodies as its leading characreristics, while the more minimalistic guitar textures seem to have also a slight FLOYD-ian flavor.An excellent production supports the rich sound of Astralis and the synthesizers of Gaggero have also plenty to offer, from MARK KELLY-like floating solos to more grandiose and cinematic soundscapes.The complaint comes from some quite stretched minimalistic passages with a spacey atmosphere, led either by keyboards or guitar distortions, where the band seems to have lost its inspiration.

''Voces del bosque'' is not a masterpiece, propably it is even slightly worse than Astralis' debut.But the mass of memorable riffing, melodic solos and well-refined retro influences mark this as a quite promising release.Recommended.