ANABELAS

This album is something else. I went into this album without any research around a year ago, and I was completely blown away by it. And still to this day I am still shocked at how some unknown Argentinians from no where can create one of the most impressively complex albums I have ever listened to and then disappear for a couple of decades. For me, it's no surprise that they needed eight band members and seven session musicians to pull this off. Speaking of the musicians, for me the most impressive members were their violinist Sergio Polizzi, their saxophonist Wim Forstman, and their bassist Edgardo Folino. The other five musicians are also incredibly accomplished on each of their respective instruments, and the songwriting is top notch. It would sadly not be until 2018 where only one of these incredibly creative men would get the band back together for their sophomore album, El Eco Del Sol.  

Moving onto the actual album, it opens with the sidelong instrumental suite El Cortejo de un Día Amarillo. This suite is split into two parts, the first of which is Danza de las Atlántides. It begins with quiet percussion until we hear a noise close to nails on the chalkboard, but it actually adds a lot to the overall feel of the opening. The band all of a sudden has a sudden burst of energy with the band creating this loud, bombastic, and screeching noise with their instruments. They eventually come to a climax and tone down the song with a simple drum part and ascending guitar part. And when the horns join in, it becomes much more ominous, with the song speeding up into a fast paced King Crimson sounding guitar solo. The guitar seems to change again as it becomes more deep and the music gets more and more intense before the horns get louder, the violin becomes more aggressive, and the guitar's pitch gets even lower. The musicians take a well deserved break and calm down from the insanity that was the first couple of minutes. This is when the dynamics of the volume and intensity fluctuate a lot, with most of the musicians having their own solos. The music finally plateaus at a tune similar to Exiles by King Crimson, with some very soothing guitar parts by Petty Guelache. After that, the music falls apart and slowly melts into this forest ambience and eventually finds its way at this quiet drum and bass part. The small bursts of the guitar and with the violin and the flute sound in the background add a lot to this part. The section is also what I believe is the first point we hear some of the musicians sing chants in the background. They transition into this thundering interlocked playing style, and it creates some of the best parts in the album, in my opinion. Sadly, this great passage of the song comes to a quick end. After it, the band plays some more easy listening music, and the band shows some of the more classical and chamber music influences, with there being no traditional rock instruments in this segment. We now move into the second part of this song, Locomotora Blues. It begins with more chants and a classical piano, with Eduardo Corbella slightly tapping his cymbals to add to the atmosphere. I noticed that in some moments on this song sound similar to the blues (the name sort of gives it away), with the guitar and bass rapidly becoming more and more powerful until, at the absolute highest the song has gotten, it completely stops and proceeds to have a reprise of certain parts from the beginning of the album. The music once again dies out and falls deeper and deeper into this void, until it finally hits a wailing ending.  

Side two opens with the song El Viaje De Anabelas, which begins with some great haunting and isolated chants. When the band starts playing their music, it comes close to jazz territory with some similar qualities to Miles Davis' more fusion style music and King Crimson Mark three, sort of like a mix of the two (all though I will say the King Crimson influence is much stronger). The vocal parts are much softer than the rest of the music in this song, and I believe Rogatti is strumming an acoustic guitar in this part, but I can't tell for sure. Afterwards, the band breaks into a military march sounding theme, with there seeming to be some story line to it. I know there isn't one, but the emotion in this middle section of the song really makes it seem like there's one. The singing in this part easily makes this one of the many highlights of the album. Bubu goes on to put an end to this, however, and Polizzi proceeds to do one of the most beautiful violin solos I have ever heard, with clear inspiration from David Cross' solo on Larks' Tongues in Aspic. The song ends with many changes in the rhythm as the band attempts to reach a crescendo, which, when they hit, makes a great ending for an even better song.  

The next song on side two and the last one on the album is Sueños Di Maniquí. It starts with a piano piece similar to the opening of Bitches Crystal by ELP before once again leaning into a more fusion sound. The speed of these guys during this song is incredible, and the fact that they manage to do it in such a small time frame is jaw-dropping at the least. After that madness, they play a slower reprise of the vocal sections of El Viaje de Anabelas, along with sudden bursts of energy from Tenconi, and Forstman makes this disturbing setting within the song. The band then does this cool trick with the song in where they reach a high volume that should signal an ending, but they keep the song going. They quickly reach the volume they were just at after a quick violin solo, and the album ends the same way it started with an almost acid twist to the rapture of the instruments and the fiery experimentation.  

And with that comes the end of this masterpiece. This is easily my favorite album from South America (although many great ones come close) and one of the most innovative, underrated, and eclectic albums in the whole progressive rock genre. Between the ways the band stays connected the entire album, surprises the listener with every song, keeps the intensity at an all time high, and extends their compositions into so many unique ways, I can say without a doubt that Anabelas is a must listen for progressive rock enjoyers. Easily a 5/5.