ASTURIAS

There's a guest voice on one track and I should tell you this is under 25 minutes yet is considered a studio album? Five tracks and two of those are covers of their own music one from their first album released in 1988 and the other from a 1993 record. Thirteen studio albums from 1988 to 2019 and there's one that I really like called "Fractals" which is the band in electric mode. So this while impressive just isn't my kind of music by a long shot. The title is possibly a mistake as we always say "Bird's Eye View" here but whatever. 3 stars.

But this is not the only difference that makes me almost assure that the electric version of this band will appeal much more to prog rock fans. On the works realeased under the moniker Electric Asturias, all musicians and specially violinist Tei Sena are developing complex and vibrating harmonies. Back to Fractals, the pieces are all instrumental. Another feature I'm truly fond of is a generous presence of lyric, fast and charming piano tunes and background sonority.

The way the compositions give plenty of space to piano and violin shows these artist's dexterity to execute low and high tones, slow and fast movements. If the listener wants to verify for itself, I recommend the third track, the longest one, called Castle in the Mist (with some great guitar solos, too), and the second half of the fifth track, Silent Tears + Cybertransmission.

About the cover of this album, its a powerful and unforgettable visual identity which is repeated on Elementals and Trinity.

I give this work a 4,3 score, on a 5 star scale.

The other issue for me is that this sounds so samey from start to finish. Again this is so impressive with the powerful bass/drum rhythm section with the piano, guitar or violin soloing over top. It's just kind of relentless with this style even though there are so many "wow" moments. So a slight step down from the low 4 star rating I have for "Fractals". We get close to an hour of music and no one track stands out for me but there's no duds either as this is a consistent album in the same style throughout.

I think most Prog fans give both of these electric albums 4 stars minimum but you really need to be a big fan of the violin in doing so. Well I'm keeping "Fractals" around by this band if that means anything. There is a 4 song suite called "Suite Of Elemental" at almost 29 minutes to end the album and the second tune of these opens with the wind blowing maybe not so surprisingly since it's called "Sylphide:Wind Elemental". I just like that part the best. Just sayin'.

Top three would include "Castle In The Mist" which opens with some quiet piano before the violin starts to rip it up and the bass and drums kick in. The guitar replaces the violin but they will trade off along with the piano. "Moondawn" is another gem that hits the ground running and how about the guitar. Organ's turn then synths leading the way. I like when it settles with random drum patterns and some killer guitar expressions before 3 minutes. Some jazzy bass too joins in then the violin along with huge bass lines. So good! The album ends with a 3 part suite called "Suite Of Fate" and the last track called "The Lancer" makes my final top three. Piano only to open before drums, violin and bass join in before 1 1/2 minutes. It then picks up with the guitar soloing. Oh my! Organ too then the violin returns but the organ and guitar aren't finished yet. A really enjoyable album that clearly was well thought out and it doesn't hurt to have some real players creating the music here.

1. "Ryu-Hyo" (4:59) classically influenced beautiful music which is a little too busy for New Age relaxation music. Gorgeous melodies from Yoh Ohyama's violin are met with amazing piano play from Hiroko Tsuda. The buildup and crescendo near the end definitely disqualify this for the New Age category. So, then, what do we call it? "Prog Lite"? (9.25/10)

2. "Clairvoyance" (5:20) synth bass line at the opening gives this song a 80s R&B feel, like a Michael Jackson "Smooth Criminal" sound and feel. The drum line that soon enters does nothing to diminish this effect. But then some other instruments enter presenting a kind of Celtic ABC "Poison Arrow" sound and feel. The smooth atmospheric passage in the third minute is pretty awesome, but then we jump back into the 80s barrage of gumball synth lines. In terms of progressive rock, this one is kind of embarrassing--despite the high quality of engineering and musicianship that it takes to render it. (7.75/10)

3. "Angel Tree" (4:53) descending "arpeggio" of synth chords prefaces a sickly sweet classical guitar solo. Synth strings join in support, enriching the syrup a notch or two. Nice display of guitar play. (8.25/10)

4. "Tightrope" (6:55) a whole-band weave that once again postures itself more in the realm of smooth jazz with world music flair. The keyboard-led melody is rather ridiculous in its simplistic familiarity. In the third minute there is a slowdown and two-chord acoustic guitar arpeggio base over which Zamfir-like keyboard "piccolo" solos. Piano and bass rejoin, which is actually pretty cool, and then, in the fifth minute, drums and electric guitar, bringing the sound for the first time into a prog relam. Pretty great electric guitar solo and jazz bass play. (13/15)

5. "Circle in the Forest" (22:21) Several New Age-y synth sounds weave a gentle if simple and over-repeated melodic section for the first four minutes. A shift occurs at the end of the fourth minute in which one of the lead synth sounds ("harp") changes chords and melody of its arpeggi and is joined in a new weave by a lute-like sound. At the 5:00 mark a full band joins in with chunky bass and Lord of the Dance-like Celtic drums beating away to create a heavy section. This is then cycled around for the next four minutes with a softer, stripped down theme until the eighth minute when some NORTHETTES-like vocalese joins in. Around the 8:00 mark a different movement is initiated with a single bass note repeated around 110 beats per minute as classical celestina/12-string sounding chords progress with the drums playing off the established melody. It's a nice sound palette if a little "MacArthur's Park" like, simple, and Mike Oldfield-repetitive. Also, the drums' toms are a little early Simmons-like. Just after the 12:00 mark a fast-strumming acoustic guitar enters to guide a bridge to the next stripped down, piano and synth- based sentimental weave. Once again, some of the synth sounds used in this section are so New Age dated. (think of the brothers Steve & David Gordon's albums of the 1980s.) fifteen and a half minutes in and there is a single arpeggio to signal the shift to the next movement--this one softer but just as engaging. The new weave gets enhanced into a Incantations-era MIKE OLDFIELD-meets-UNITOPIA section for a rousing multi-instrumental weave of sophisticated complexity--perhaps the best passage of the album in both complexity and raw engagement (even if it is so very MIKE OLDFIELD-like). (41/45)

Total Time 44:28

B+/4.5 stars; a near-masterpiece of progressive rock music. More in the realm of New Age/World Music than Neo Prog but there are connections.

My follow-up second question is: How many one star raters here can compose and play at this level of proficiency??

1. "Closed World" (7:13) opens with some aggressive classical piano arpeggi before full rock band joins in with violin repeating the same opening sequence of arpeggi. The melodic pattern is engaging enough to keep the listener pinned while other instruments take turns soloing with variations on the main theme or, with stops and starts, going into other movements. The weaves of the three lead instruments gets clever with harmonized threads and chords. Very pleasant, clean, interesting, and engaging song start to finish with, of course, very high caliber skills in the composition and musicianship departments. (13.5/15)

2. "Wuthering Heights" (5:54) bouncy, peppy, though a little straightforward with melodies that become a little tiresome no matter how many different ways they play them. sounds like a song from GENESIS And Then There Were Three... without the lyrics, of course. (8.25/10)

3. "Skelter"(4:38) opens with a reversed piano chord á la YES 1972 before the band comes crashing through like a train out of a tunnel travelling at top speed. Great melodies from Tei Sena and support play--especially from the piano of Yoshihiro Kawagoe. The soloing skills of guitarist Satoshi Hirata are great though his lines aren't quite as melodic or emotional as Sena's. (Is it just the nature of the instrument? I think not.) (9.25/10)

4. "Crow" (8:08) sounding part classical, part jazz, and part country from the very start, this one could be a song from Edgar Meyer's Goat Rodeo or Jean-Luc Ponty's less electric albums. The weave begun at 1:29 is awesome but the rhythmic emphasis in the section beginning at 1:46 is amazing! Such skill! Such beauty! All this and the real meat of the song doesn't begin to reveal itself until 3:18 and 3:49! Great bass sound. Great whole-band weave. And then there's the awesome tension build in the second half of the sixth minute before the gentle tease and full dénouement for the seventh minute. Could've gone higher, but, still, I am happy with the gentle, gorgeous ending. Probably the best song on the album! (14.25/15)

5. "Rogus" (8:46) strings and tango-jazzy piano open this one before full band join in and electric guitar establishes the lead melody with violin playing second fiddle. The two trade variations on the melodic theme established first by the guitar over the first couple minutes as bass, piano, and drums float like waves in support. A quiet section exposes the piano for another tango-like movement as chunky bass solos in time with drums. Nice! I love the piano play! Dirty guitar enters to solo. Quite skilled and jazzy if still not as emotional as the violin or piano. There are a lot of similarities to this guitar sound and play to MIREK GIL and STEVE HACKETT. It gets better and more under your skin as the song progresses. Great song! Just love that tango-piano foundation! (18/20)

- Suite Of "Gorgon" : 6. I - Medusa (5:11) slow chord shifting church organ opens this one before bells join in. Ominous and awesome! Then about a minute in the full band jumps in with its own classical Phantom of the Opera-like theme music. Very Italian in it's dramatic set up. (Except for the organ opening, this could be either LA COSCIENZA DI ZENO or INGRANAGGI DELLA VALLE here). (8.9/10)

7. II - Sthenno (7:30) opening with heavily distorted bass, delicate cymbal play, and then violin before piano introduces the real pace and form at 0:50. The song is very chunky, very thick like WOBBLER and angular like ÄNGLAGÅRD. The dirty violin solo in the fourth minute is very wild and frenetic. The KOTEBEL-like music that follows ushers in the return of the heavily distorted bass as the violin seems to dance around it. Then, at 4:45 there is an emptying as the bass is allowed to repeat the opening section. Great complex and tightly performed symphonic prog song. (13.25/15)

8. III - Euryale (8:51) opens with some deliciously supported violin play--amazingly gorgeous melodies. The music switches to a little more chop in the second minute--including in the violin and guitar melody play. It's good, just quite as powerful as the opening section. Very nice technically-demanding weave in the fourth minute. The violin puts on a show in the fifth minute while the band beneath gets heavier and switches to minor chords for a little bit. I take it that the violin is representing Perseus and the electric guitar the gorgon. Quite a struggle! Won, of course, by the violin--which leads to a final section in which the powerful and plaintive melody of the opening section are repeated and reinforced. (18/20)

Total time 56:11

Five stars; a minor masterpiece of beautiful, technically skilled jazz fusion/progressive rock music.

Opener `Closed World' sets much of a template for the disc, unleashing Tei Sena's constantly ravishing violin, Yoshihiro Kawagoe's whirring keyboards and Satoshi Hirata's red-hot guitar races, all torn through at great speed with a dazzling urgency. Taking its title from Emily Brontë's influential novel, `Wuthering Heights' taps into that Mike Oldfield-like sweeping fancy and instrumental diversity that has long been a constant Asturias influence. `Skelter' was originally written for a fight scene in a video game, and appropriately the piece holds plenty of duelling guitar, violin and keyboard soloing passages throughout its victorious up-tempo momentum.

`Crow', inspired by a late period painting from Vincent van Gogh, slows things down for a sombre reflection on `a talented but unrewarded life', and the observation that van Gogh himself felt he was `like a bird in a cage' of his own personal demons contributes to the melancholic yet defiant piano, bass and violin musings so prominent throughout the piece. `Rogus' also hails from a late Eighties video game, and it's a prog-rock workout of icy synths, Yoh's coursing thick bass and Kiyotaka Tanabe's rumbling drums powering behind crisp electric guitar themes and sprightly piano.

No prog-related album should be without a multi-part epic, and the three-part `Gorgon' suite that closes the disc is an ambitious, twenty one-plus minute interpretation of three mythical female creatures with snakes for hair of ancient Greek literature! Opening chamber-prog passage `Medusa' offers a gloriously gothic atmosphere built around imposing church organ and spectral synths that are ultimately ripped apart with searing violin strains and snapping drumming. Fans of Zeuhl originators Magma will love one of the most violent and frantic Asturias pieces to date, `Stheno's mud-thick grumbling 'n' grubby Jannick Top-like bass oppressiveness, skittering percussion and devilish piano mania suitably sound-tracking the most independent and ferocious of the three gorgons! The tale of third sister `Euryale', known for her bellowing cries, is carefully set to highly emotional music with its sorrowful yet achingly beautiful violin strains and thoughtful guitar ruminations that rise to freeing heights for a refined and uplifting farewell.

`Trinity's cultured approach to often adapting classic literature and art means it always remains evocative and sophisticated, and the album remains endlessly melodic at all times without ever sacrificing technicality and ambitiousness. Trinity' is dramatic and intelligent instrumental music at its very finest, and is not only the third stunning Electric Asturias work to date, but already one of the standout progressive music releases of 2019.

Five stars.

Note - Electric Asturias are currently performing on the 2019 Cruise to the Edge tour, and attendees would be highly recommended to skip looking in on some of the `bigger names' if it means a chance to witness this first-rate band in action - a group who will quite literally blow most of the other bands out of the water! ;)

While evidently a jazz-rock outfit, there are numerous influences at play here, the leadership of the Tei Sana's luxurious violin notwithstanding, there are plenty of King Crimson-styled moments that keep surfacing here and there, armed with scorching guitar pirouettes from Satoshi Hirata, dexterous piano additions played by Yoshihiro Kanagoe and polyrhythmic beats from masterful drummer Kiyotaka Tanabe. They have the chops, believe you me! For technical music like this to be successful, the composing needs to be first-rate, deliberately steering away from rambling noodling tendencies and focusing stringently on mood creation. Keeping sections vibrating and fresh, with occasional and unexpected instrumental sniper fire from the soloists, is what makes or breaks an album like this.

All the tracks from the scorching opener "Deadlock Triangle", as well as 3 follow-up tracks that prepare for the 4 part Elemental Suite that spans , are blistering compositions played with perfection as well as deadly speed , that will leave the listener enthralled, mystified and utterly spent. That does not mean that it's all 'strum und drang' bombast, as the violin in particular takes a few romantic exits from the whirlwind and wallow in some deep romanticism, as expressed on the second track, the voluptuous 9 minute "Time Traveler", that veers off into some delicate piano work before morphing into the classic King Crimson 'bicycle' math-rock, clicking with intricate guitar phrasings that defy logic or gravity. The jazzy onslaught is pure hard-fusion, perhaps closer to fellow Japanese proggers Kenso but ornamented with some softer pools of reflection and groove.

Falsely creating the impression that this might be a Tangerine Dream-like electronic workout, "Tangram Paradox" is a tortuous, polyrhythmic convulsion that hurls at Mach 3 speed, both into conventional and experimental zones that gain defy the norm. Again, this is no Neo, sorry Matrix fans! The sheer delirium espoused by all soloists is mayhem, but of a controlled kind. The bass and drum work impress to the nth degree and the 3 soloists are just all guns ablaze! "Honeycomb Structure" is a musical maze of labyrinthine proportions, fluid violin in the lead, screeching while the guitar scorches, rambling organ undertow, while the bass and drum duo wallop and bruise. Another piano solo takes this straight into Chick and Herbie territory, very jazz and very much controlled fury. But the clincher is the rollicking, blues- infested guitar flip out from Satoshi Hirata, a pure marvel to behold.

Things get decidedly more orchestral and symphonic with the nearly 29 minute suite, as the violin continues to guide the pack, a flawless example of how 5 rock musicians with classical and jazz backgrounds can compose music that is both vivaciously contemporary, yet still retain all the qualities of timeless classical legend. Defiantly effortless and concise, heavily loaded up on melody and technique, the quintet smolders like a radioactive fire, sizzling fusion of styles and sounds that mark their muse with incomparable gusto. Hard then soft, majestic and sub-atomic, swift and measured, this is simply phenomenal, whatever your musical taste might be limited to. Funny how a repetitive piano chord can provide the platform for a sumptuous violin waltz that is easy to master in terms of accessibility, yet still complex and technically proficient. The second part (the aptly named "Salamander") flies straight into the darker clouds of heavy symphonic bombast, with trilling synthesizer runs, fiery violin forays, brooding organ runs and monster rhythmic gymnastics. A roller coaster of rippling notes and dense arrangements make this quite a breathless ride. Dive into the volcanic flow and come out on the other side, unscathed but exhilarated. The third section is "Sylphide" and it showcases the gentler romanticism of melody and passionate musical discourse, an arsenal of keys keeping the carpet rolling for some gorgeous violin runs from Tei Sena, enveloped in mellotron waves and ethereal beauty. Occasionally playful, often serene, the soloists keep the tense fusion of sounds within a very linear furrow that refuses to back down and kneel at the shrine. The bass guitar takes over and leads with uncommon valor and spunk. Just beautiful.

The finale "Gnome" chooses a more playful theme, altering the melody only slightly, thus providing reassurance and yet adventure on a different plane. Choppy, intense and explosive, the masters empty their creative juices with abandon , giving the impression that this complex music is only second nature to them, a true sign of genius, in my opinion. This band played on the 2014 and 2017 version of Cruise to the Edge and blew the audiences away, same at Rosfest 2013. Perhaps the most underrated artist in the prog world, Asturias deserves huge recognition and massive applause. Getting "Fractals" next!

An easy 5, my dear Watson!

Asturias' music falls roughly into four areas: Classical - Rock - Synth driven - Other acoustic

This album is something like 50% classical, 20% rock, 20% synth, 10% acoustic. To a typical prog rock fan, it may come off as dull and heavy on the violin, piano, and woodwinds. But if you have a classical background you'll love it.

Don't get me wrong, though, there's some bitchin' guitar. My favorite track is "Sign", which culminates in a harmonically rich (if only somewhat technical) electric solo in 7/4. Don't give up until you get this far! It's only the third track but the intros before it are slow. "Journey" is the happiest point of the album, featuring chipper recorder and majestic electric guitar in major key.

"Lost" (another wonderful track) rounds out the first half and sets a melancholy tone for the rest of the album. The transition to the second half is downright depressing. Listen to "Alone" and you'll understand the album title.

"Rebirth" recalls some of Sign's intensity, but "Wandering" and "Missing Piece" continue to be contemplative. "Resolution" is a bit of a misnomer. The final track itself is a disappointment, and its tone is sad to match. Appropriately, there's no triumphant ending or sense of closure -- you might say the missing piece is never found.

Beautiful music, but not uplifting.

The sound of the band remains fairly orchestral and continues to recall of the melodious and dreamy works of MIKE OLDFIELD, JEAN-PASCAL BOFFO and STEVE HACKETT, containing symphonic overtones and ethereal soundscapes.But this time the introduction of strings leads to some comparisons with compatriots OUTER LIMITS, although Asturias had a less virtuosic and dramatic approach, often flavored by some New Age-like arrangements.Moreover a few tracks are almost entirely based on strings, bassoon and piano, having a certain Chamber Music feel akin to AFTER CRYING.Other pieces, basically those containing a fair amount of electric guitars and synthesizer, come closer to instrumental Symphonic Rock with delicate breaks and interplays, their quality is often lowered by the choice Ohyama to use some programmed sounds and the somewhat average sound of keyboards, but the arrangements are fully elegant with lovely variations between electric-, keyboard- and string-based textures.The couple of synthetic moves, like on ''Glacier'' and ''Mistral island'', are not my cup of tea, very computer-based orchestrations with some MIKE OLDFIELD references, but the fake echoes of flute and the likes are certainly a turndown.Fortunately even the shortest guitar solo of Yoh Ohyama has something good to propose plus the trully interesting themes in here are much more than the questionable ones.

A pretty accurate work on the mellow, dreamy Prog Rock lines with a certain Mike Oldfield atmosphere.Not as good as the previous one, because programmed sounds are a bit too much on use, still very pleasant and entertaining.Recommended.