CACTUS PEYOTES

I got this album as a bonus from my favorite dealer: a small gift after have enriched him with my purchases; and I confess I was highly skeptical about this one. Being Brazilian myself, I've never heard of CACTUS PEYOTES (the band, of course) until noticing them in the list of selectable bonuses - I confess that it took me weeks until I unwrapped the CD from the envelope and got courage to listen to their debut and sole album.

Wow, what a surprise! These guys did a nice work, really. Sure that the album is uneven with some weak points and there's the unsolved issue of English vocals, but they ride gracefully in the boundaries of eclectic and heavy prog, blending steadily and decisively hard-rock, symphonic rock, fusion, space/psych and even a bit of folk.

The first track, 'Hamurabi Code', tells the story, a symphonic short tune introducing a tough rock; the following track, 'Labyrinths of the mind' is even better increasing positively the temperature - all prog ingredients are well served in a musical pot, and the frenzies continues with the weird 'Sdruwz'. The soft 'Spirit of the forest' has a great musical accompaniment but is spoiled by the vocals, since the theme is basically Brazilian, singing in Portuguese should fit better.

'Magarça' is a nervous and disturbing instrumental track, while 'Toadsteel tea' is like a jam-session provided with vocals. 'Soul's flight' shows again the band's soft side with nice keyboards action. 'The right to death' is pure rock although a few repetitive while 'Sacred blaze', another rock, displays a more ingenious approach. 'And I wait.' closes the album in a cheesy and unexpected way.

CACTUS PEYOTES bear a plethora of varied influences from the likes of Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple until most recent acts like Spock's Beard and Anathema, touching other seminal bands like King Crimson, but anyway, they chose to trail their own way. There's a hearsay about a new release coming from them and then we might be able to know what directions the band selected.

An honest album, probably a starting-point for CACTUS PEYOTES, very recommended for those that love to dive into novelties. Good.