Alternating scenes --- Illusive Mind --- 2011 (?)
This band are something of an engima. Very very hard to track down, and even on their own website there is no English version; my Spanish or Portuguese being somewhat rusty (ie virtually non-existent) I've had to make some educated guesses but what I've come up with is this: the band, as such, appears to be the solo project of one guy, Darwin Lubo, who so far as I can make out writes, sings, produces and plays everything here. The music is descibed as "rock progresivo" (anyone?) so I think I'm in about the right area. It looks like this is their/his second album and as far as I can see no label is mentioned, with the entire thing available via his Soundcloud page, which leads me to believe that either the album cover is just some pretty art and there is no hard CD copy, or that he released it independently. I can't obviously verify any of that, as he (let's call the project he, as there is only him involved as far as I can make out) doesn't come up in searches on any of my main metal or prog rock sites. Oh yeah, he's from Venezuela, hence the Iberian tongue. Does he sing in English? Well, the titles are in English, so let's find out, shall we?
"Trapped" gets us underway with a big synthy, dramatic opening and some low choral voices, effects and almost the feel of some sort of ceremony taking place, then big hard guitar pounds in and the tempo kicks right up alongside galloping drums, keyboards sliding into the mix for a few moments before they fade back out and the guitar takes the melody. Oh, then they're back in with a sort of organ sound and then augmented by very proggy arpeggios. Halfway through the song it's fairly clear this is going to be an instrumental. Will it be so all through the album? Time will tell. Good running keys with attendant guitar backing up the main one, then more ramped-up arpeggios and as we head into the last minute the guitar takes over, not so much a solo but definitely an instrument leading the charge. A big powerful end and we're into "Mechanical plague", which starts with a sound like someone plugging a lead into a guitar, then the guitar itself fires off in a marching sort of riff, percussion added to the sound and the guitar soars off into the heavens.
More guitars (presumably multitracked if our man Darwin is the only one in the band) set up a high squealing melody, with some talkbox work and it's obviously another instrumental. Very powerful guitar, almost shades of Iron Maiden in this at times, then that "plugging-in" sound again, leading me to believe this is definitely self-produced, though nothing about "Dream master" sounds in any way amateur. A great slow ballad with some lovely resonant guitar, almost bluesy in ways, some nice keyboard lines layered over the main guitar melody. I think by now as we work through the third instrumental in a row it's pretty clear this album is not going to have any vocals. Well, if it does I'll be surprised. Lovely orchestral-like keyswork halfway through that really adds a sense of drama to the music, the guitars then joining in on the same lines and creating an overall solid soundscape.
We're rocking again with the title track, powerful speedy guitars and some peppy keyboards, a really fine drum solo in the middle that's then added to by a rising organ salvo, bringing the guitars charging back in for the closing minute, while "Intruder part 2" (what happened to part 1? Search me. Maybe it's on the first album) has touches of the ghost of Metallica and some righteous keyboard work, chugging along at a fine pace, taking us into "Tight squeeze", with a sound familiar to old fogeys like me, the rasping click of stylus on vinyl that almost always preceded the music at the beginning of any album. Some odd sounds then the guitar takes it and it's slightly slower and a bit heavier than what has gone before, with some stabbing keyboard chords and later some really nice chiming keys too. But Darwin loves his axe, and it's this that snarls the ending and takes us into another "part 2" that doesn't seem to have a "part 1" that I can see, at least not on this album.
"1983 part 2" is built on a really nice chingling guitar sound with some synthy backdrop and a really nice bassline, another slow one it would seem although I'm kind of wrong there as there are some speedy licks on the keys more towards the end as it speeds up, and the tempo then stays high for "Divide and conquer", a guitarfest on which Darwin shows what he can do with that axe, racking out some great basslines too. Not that the keyboards don't get a look in... "Dr. Dometone" on the other hand pretty much rides on a mad synth line with the guitar banging away looking for attention, but your ears get drawn to the amazing keyboard riffs. The closer is the longest track on the album, almost nine minutes and to write and play a nine-minute instrumental that doesn't get boring is not easy, but on "Out of sight" Darwin has managed it admirably.
It explodes to life with a crashing drum intro and high keyboard arpeggios before the guitar slices in, and the piece just oozes with energy, as if he's saved the best to last. Strangely enough, just before the four-minute mark he racks off a chord on the guitar and brings the whole thing to a close, then a second later pumps it back up on the back of some wibbly keyboards and charging guitar again. Almost as if this were two tracks stitched together, though the sound is pretty much the same, so I suppose it should be seen as a false ending really. Some nice stop/start guitar then the bass takes over with some weird little synth effects before the main guitar comes smashing back in. To be honest, it's over before you realise it's run its course: how many (almost) nine-minute instrumentals can you say that about?
TRACKLISTING
1. Trapped
2. Mechanical plague
3. Dream master
4. Alternating scenes
5. Intruder part 2
6. Tight squeeze
7. 1983 part 2
8. Divide and conquer
9. Dr. Dometone
10. Out of sight
Listening to this music it's incredible to think (provided I understand the bio correctly) that this is the work of just one man. He makes Illusive Mind sound like a full band, and if this is a self-produced effort it's a pretty damn fine one. I must see if I can unearth his first album. If you like instrumental hard rock on the style of Pg. Lost and ASIWYFA, then you could do a lot worse than give a listen to this guy from South America. It's not too big a stretch of the imagination to say that he could find himself up there with the ... er, with those big rockers from ... um ... You know what? He could very well be on the way to being the one to put Venezuela on the rock map.
Note: unfortunately there are zero videos of this guy on YouTube, but here is his Soundcloud page, where you can listen to his albums: https://soundcloud.com/illusive-mind...nd-alternating