Into the Electric Castle
Mauro Monteiro
1998
This double 1998 double CD is an awesome really great. I give 5 stars to disc 1 and 4 stars to disc 2. The compositions are super well built, balancing: space synthesizers; introductions with awesome narrated voices; going to acoustic guitars folk ala Led Zeppelin; then deluxe synthesizers solos and energetic guitars ala Eloy; more accessible rock ballads ala Pink Floyd (but it's better than today Pink Floyd ); amazing flute of Thijs Van Leer bringing back incredible ala Focus folk arrangements; great Hammond organ interventions; enriched hard rock ! The style is not neo progre, it's more at 70's spirit but under nowadays dynamics. The project includes a lot of Known figures to the vocals, also female, all of them are perfect!! The sleeve is marvelous, completing the awesome aura. This album is perfect to show to guys who only listen mainstream bands and are not "converted" into more audacious underrated progre rock, because it balances well more accessible with complex progre rock, and it's more perfectly written and produced than many mainstream (Pink Floyd, Marillion, etc)!