TALAMASCA

Talamasca evolved out of the band Astoria, where guitarist Brita Rae Borough, singer Nancy Kaye, bassist/guitarist Dave McClelland and drummer Brian Young played together with guitarist/keyboardist Robert Carpenter.When Carpenter left Astoria, the remaing members recruited Nissan Madsen on sax/recorder/vocals and changed the name of the band.In fact Carpenter is credited in one track of the album ''Rights of passage'', which was recorded at the Cube Of The Universe Studios in Seattle.Mellow Records discovered the band and released their album in 1991.

Talamasca sound pretty much like a much folkier/Heavy Rock version of ECHOLYN.They share the same passion for acoustic interludes, American-styled vocals and refined arrangements, but Talamasca color their sound with bursting electric guitars instead of keyboards, while there are absolutely no symphonic or Fusion tendencies in this album.At moments the vocals of Nancy Kaye remind me of RELAYER's John Sahagian.Th album contains tons of electroacoustic changes, complemented by an intense lyricism and some smooth instrumental work, which occasionally offers a fair sose of slightly psychedelic tunes.Otherwise ''Rights of passage'' appears to balance between US-flavored Folk Rock and groovy Heavy Rock, which has strong links with the music of RUSH.The atmospheres are great, ranging from melodramatic, vocal-based material to relaxed, rural textures.The few pieces with the addition of saxes and flute have strong resemblances to the demanding style of HANDS or even VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR, although Talamasca certainly retain a more mellow and instant style of playing, avoiding any trully complex themes.The 12-min. long ''Safe places'' is a nice attempt by the group to add some loose, experimental touches in their familiar style, which now presents a few KING CRIMSON experiments in the guitar parts, blended with a lyrical and romantic Psych/Progressive Rock.

Apparently the group disbanded soon after this album.But ''Rights of passage'' sounds pretty original and well-played for the most of its part.A mix of Folk and Heavy Rock stylings, based on great vocals, melodious lines and dramatic climates.Recommened.

Talamasca from USA is an obscure band from early '90s who manage to release only one album in 1991named Rites of passage , but I guess the album saw the light only around 1993-1994 issued by at Mellow Records. This release is fairly decent towards great in places and quite intresting for that period, I mean the music offered was not popular at all around that time, imagine a combination of eclectic prog melted with psychedelic passages all under a folk atmosphere, really inspired album I might say. The band was formed on the ashes of another obscure band called Astoria, unknown to me, and the result was Talamasca, few members from Astoria together with athor names formed Talamasca. The music is quirky, with nice arrangements where the guitar done a good job, the folkish moments and psychedelic aswell are all over the places, good and inspired. The female voice of Nancy Kaye is excellent, she has a very strong and fiting in the music like hand on glove. Pieces like Absent, Spy or Reality plague are excellent and showing a band with potential, that some how lost along the prog highway and gone into oblivion in the end disbanding soon after the album was issued. All in all 3 solid stars rounded to 3.5, definetly needs at least one listen, the album is still available on Mellow records.