THE FIRST LIGHTS OF THE CENTURY

Pheew !! That took me quite some time to get ready for this review. This release by Argentine outfit Chaneton was a pretty tough nut to crack you might say. Interesting band this that doesn't do any effort to hide from their influences Genesis and Marillion. In fact all kinds of familiar songtitles came up when I put these songs on my laptop for uploading on my mp3: Dance on a Vulcano, Firth of Fifth, Sugar Mice and Lavender to name a few. At first I thought I had the wrong disc in my box but when I played them they were totally new for me so it had to be ok. Apparently the shown titles are some sort of nicknames. Anyway, they are complex songs for sure because I only started to recognize them after some 10 times listening.

The music is quite noisy but like is also the case with neoband GERARD, noisy in a nice way with lots of great melody, fine keyboards and original songs with great build up. Biggest difference with Gerard is that Chaneton has a very active vocalist. In a review of this album on another website I read a comment about this voice, that it sounded like a sort of mockery of himself. Well, I wouldn't want to go that far, I think this is a fairly normal voice, ok maybe a bit peculiar but not too weird at all. I didn't have a hard time getting used to it and somehow it fits this music I feel.

Another striking thing to me is the high standard throughout the entire album. Only strong songs on this one, a downside could be that the album is very long (personally I don't have a problem with this at all, an album can't be long enough for me but sometimes I get the feeling I'm just about the only one who feels this way). Anyway, not much to complain otherwise or it would have to be that at first the songs sound a little bit sloppy but most of that has to do with the overwhelming lot that's coming over you for about 75 minutes. Initially it's a bit too much really, like I said, the music is complex and it will have to grow on you I'm convinced. But I would advice: don't give up too soon, let it grow and you own a jewel with this one. 4 stars. Recommended for fans of Marillion and Genesis who like the longer and more complex structures.

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