GAMADION

First of all I want to thank my friend Anael for letting me know about this Mexican band who he personally knows, since he designed the cover art for this album.

So Arbatel is a band from the province of Zacatecas, who began playing since the 90s, playing prog rock covers from bands such as Pink Floyd or King Crimson. During the years their musical skills were better so they started composing their own material, fortunately it was in the 2004 year, when they could release their debut album entitled "Gamadión", which I am reviewing right away.

Gamadión features 8 tracks and a total time of almost one hour, it kicks off with "Catarsis", which begins with a bombastic sound and then it slows down a bit, the use of the keyboards is very prominent making a symphonic sound and in moments reminding me to some older bands, such as Japanese trio Ars Nova, very nice instrumental music.

The second track has the name of "Necrópolis", and here what predominates is the electric guitar sound, making the song a bit catchy and melodic, the bombastic thing does not appear here, drums are pretty good and some synth sound as a background fills the cup. After a couple of minutes the song makes a short stop, just in order to give a new direction to the song one minute later, with some keyboard sound ala Goblin, and nice guitar interplay.

"Némesis" returns to the symphonic and bombastic sound clearly led by keyboards, with a very nice structure, several keyboard waves, some guitar riffs and nice drums.

"Xólotl" is something completely different and you will notice it since the very beginning, since they evoke some traditional folk Mexican sounds, after some seconds the sound of church bells begin, along with some funeral drums, this same line is followed through some 4 minutes while some guitar sound appears, and then those drums begin to fade out, later a short break and the bombastic thing appears, but it changes again and slows down again, in some moments it reminds me to A Saucerful of Secrets, due to the organ sound. The song is progressing and building up a great structure.

"La Fuga" is the shortest track, and as you can imagine by the name, it is a keyboard oriented track indeed, nice piece.

The next is the title track "Gamadión", the first moments takes you to the past, since you will listen to some kind of General orders, reminding me to the Nazi and wars. After a couple of minutes the song really begins with a fast and adventurous sound, again led by keyboards and again reminding me to Ars Nova, in some moments. Some minutes later while the music is playing, we will hear some war noises, such as guns, bombs or screams, so in moments the song provokes an scary and hypnotizing feeling, a great song.

"Tu Che Sei", as you can see the Italian culture was also part of Arbatel's inspiration, this is the first track that features vocals, which with due respect, are not really good, on the other hand, the music may be not that complex, but it does sound like some classical Italian prog music, excellent melodic song.

To finish the album we have another version of "Xolotl" but this time with vocals, and actually it sounds really good, the vocals are provided by a female singer, with a very nice voice reaching some high notes.

So I am happy with this debut album, I would love to see Arbatel on stage one day, and I trust the band will follow the same good path in the future, I am sure they can improve some things.

My final grade is 3 stars.

Enjoy it!

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