CRECIENDO (AS JAIME ROSAS CUARTETO)

One word "Fantastic!". This must be one of the best records any progressive music fan should own. There are times throughout the CD that you feel like listening Wakeman and others where Emerson appears. There are some hard songs like "Gravedad", "Creciendo", and others where mellow beautiful music flows from these four guys.All the instruments are played brilliantly. The music is complex, with permanent rythm changes and surprises the listener continously. All the arrangements are precise and beautiful. This is a must have and if you don't know these guys, please do. You won't regret it. Just the amazing epic "El Mito" 18 minutes long!!! pays the CD and will force you to come back to it again and again. A MUST HAVE FOR ANY SYMPHONIC PROG FAN. A MASTERPIECE!!

On their third CD this band has turned from a trio into a quartet, guitarplayer Javier Sepulveda has joined Jaime Rosas his group. Their latest entitled "Creciendo" is a step forward because the compositions sound more mature than the other two preceding albums. This band has so much to offer!

1. Invocacion (3:54) : This tracks delivers a bombastic atmosphere with lush and varied keyboards, metal guitar runs and an electric guitar/synthesizer duel, very spectacular. The climate changes to bombastic progmetal, very dynamic and exciting with great work on the keyboards and guitar.

2. Creciendo (3:51) : This track is in the vein of the first one featuring exciting progmetal with strong guitar - and keyboard play.

3. Un Volcan En Las Nubes (3:56) : Spectacular and bombastic with classical sounding keyboards and Ritchie Blackmore inspired electric guitar runs that blend classic and rock in a fascinating way !

4. Gravedad (7:46): This is sensational and alternating progmetal featuring splendid interplay, lots of strong breaks and shifting moods, a sensitive electric guitar solo and an exciting duel between the guitar and synthesizer.

5. La Hermandad Del Fin Del Mundo (8:57): First classical piano, then a blend of acoustic rhythm-guitar, Spanish vocals and piano, followed by a wonderful acoustic guitar solo. Then beautiful Rick Wakeman-inspired acoustic piano work, supported by acoustic rhythm-guitar. The final part contains a fine acoustic guitar solo.

6. Imprudencia (2:37): This short piece is in the vein of Japanese progrock band GERARD featuring propulsive drums and bombastic work on the organ and synthesizers.

7. El Mito Del Eterno Retorno (18:12): Here is the 'magnum' opus from the Jamie Rosas Cuarteto! Their sound often evokes early GERARD, I love that bombastic symphonic sound! I'm not very delighted about the average vocals but the instrumental parts are great with lots of interesting changing climates, breaks on strong soli on keyboards and guitar. A great and exciting composition that alternates between symphonic rock and metal.

8. Ocaso (2:32): A mellow piece with beautiful classical piano.

This review #400 is dedicated to my Chilean progrock e-mail friend Marco Guerrero ("Rata?")

As the ensemble led by Jaime Rosas gets bigger, so does the rocking energy delivered in their performances. "Creciendo" is, so far, the most accomplished musical work delivered by Jaime Rosas and his band of now three supporting musicians. In fact, I think that ths word "supporting" is totally inaccurate, since most of the time the musicians behave as an constantly interactive unit. The fact is that the display of energy that takes place in "Creciendo" had been announced in the previous album "Extremos", but it is clear that newcoming guitarist Jaime Sepúlveda is alread ywell adapted into the ensmble and bringing an adequate extra flame to the band's progressive fire. Not unlike Entrance for their second album, Jaime Rosas Cuarteto is very interested in approaching the ideology of symphonic prog to the intensity of prog metal in many places, but the main emphasis is still clearly focused on the symphonic thing. The sequence of the first two tracks are solid examples of top-notch musicianship and crafty use of sonic power framed within musical complexity. This awesome explosion of colors will be reprised and amazingly enhanced in the neckbreaking, pompus instrumental 'Gravedad' (arguably the most incendiary Rosas composition ever!) and the more concise instrumental 'Imprudencia'. These are showcases of progressive machine guns trigggering mercilessly their fire against the listener's ears in order to shake their spirit in a most cathartic way. Pompous as well, but leaning more into the heritage of vintage Wakeman, 'Un Volcán en las Nubes' offers an eerie classical splendor based on sounds emulating pipe organ and string ensemble, complemented by guitar textures in a solmen ambience. 'La Hermandad del Fin del Mundo' brings out the most candorous facet of Jaime Rosas' vision: this is a somewhat long bucolic ballad based on acoustic guitar strumming and keyboard textures, while bassist Rodrigo Godoy hums all the way through as if he was quietly watching the stars and praying to them. An effective moment of rest between the frontal killers 'Gravedad' and 'Imprudencia'. The suite 'El Mito del Eterno Retorno' - inspired by Nietzsche's metaphysical ideas about time and spirit revolving around itself in a cycle of eternal returns - fills an 18 minute span of pure exciting symphonic rock, mixing effectively the lyrical colors of vintage Yes and the explosive vibe of vintage ELP. The most powerful sections bear a relatively constraint expression, so the contrast against the softer passages feels more natural and fluid. The long motif that goes ultimately fading out clearly portrays the idea of an eternal return. After this epic, the pretty piano piece 'Ocaso' closes down the album in the calmest of moods. At this point, Jaime Rosas is a real veteran: "Creciendo" is a testimony of his continuing growth as a performer and writer, and additionally, reveals a very important source of contemporary symphonic prog from the fertile ground of South America.

An excellent album from an underrated band.

Their live album is an excellent album and it made me thirsty for more music from this band. Creciendo is their third album, and the reputed best of the lot. I have yet to find out if this is true or not, but I will come back to that later this year with my reviews of the two other albums.

I wrote in my review of the live album that Jaimie Rosas Cuarteto is a blend of ELP and Dream Theater. This also holds true on this album. But I would say 70 % Dream Theater here and only 30 % ELP. The reason is that this album is pretty heavy and is verging on being prog metal. Well, many would call this prog metal. I am not a big fan of prog metal, but I still rate Dream Theater as one of my all time favorite bands. So this album leaves me happy. I like the sound.

The mix of Jaime Rosas tangents and Rodrigo Godoy & Javier Sepulveda guitars is also excellent. Yes, they sounds like John Petrucci. Yes, the band sounds like Dream Theater. But when Jaime Rosas is letting himself loose on the piano or the keyboards, he also sounds like Keith Emerson or Rick Wakeman with their respective bands. That is the best of both worlds and the best parts of this album. Jaime Rosas is a big star on his instrument. An underrated star, that is.

The best track is by far the epic, eighteen long El Mito Del Eterno Retorno where the band plays out all their cards in one long game. My only gripe is the lack of any real killer tracks here. So this album is a very shaky four stars for me. I also suspect I will rather like this album more in some years time than I like it now.

4 stars