Customer Reviews

6

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am one of the lucky people that saw them at Baja Prog 99 and Baja Prog 2000 at Mexicali, Mexico. The first time nobody knew what to expect from them, and they totally hypnotized the audience with their marvelous blend of progressive rock and classical music. The second time they came they were headlining the same night that John Wetton played. And everyone agreed with that.

"6" is their most recent studio album and they incorporate cello, flute, trumpet, piano and sax besides the prog standard guitar, bass and drums and keyboards. It is their most mature work to date and definitively the place to start knowing them. From the intro you start to notice they are all virtuosos, and not only as individuals, but as a band as well. By comparison I can only think of King Crimson but with much more classical elements. Progressive and Symphonic lovers wont be disappointed.

This band seemed to be all the rage for a time in the prog rock world. I remember that they performed at BAJA prog and all over the prog press and internet people seemed to be going ga ga over their performance. This is a studio album from them (I assume their 6th). I have not listened to this album in a long time, but I like it for the most part. The main meat of the album consists of two long conceptual tracks "Panem Et Circneses" which has a circus / fair theme, and "Farewell To 20the Century". The album concludes with "Conclusion" which is a tribute to Keith Emerson. Most of the vocals on the album are in English which are obviously not this bands first language. The results are mixed with some of it coming across pretty good, but some sounding rather awkward, somewhat reminding me of CAST's English recordings. The music is symphonic in nature with Cello and Trumpet often used as lead instruments which makes this ensemble unique. Overall an enjoyable album.

Well the right rate would be 4 stars as for a little bit discontinuity, but in this case I like to deserve the maximum rate for the incredible talent of the musicians, expecially in the final suite, rich with a lot of colours, full dynamic scales and other "surprises" as well!! I think of two masterpieces of symphonic music by A.C., like "Megalozottak Es" and "De profundis", which are almost perfect and a little bit better than this "6": but the feedback from the A.C. fans to this latter one has been growing in the last years, because the execution on stage of the "Struggle for life" suite has been so amazing to make the fans get more and more enthusiasm. The rest of the album is full of incredible variations in the vein of Frank Zappa and a Tribute to Keith Emerson as well,which remind us of the "Pirates suite" by ELP...anyway the suite by the hungarian band is fresh, original, maintaining the quality very high (listen for example to the incredible musical break in the vein of Stravinsky after the conclusion of the tribute).
I hope that A.C. will keep the prog flag flying in the next years

No doubt the quality of the musicians and their performance is excellent. I had just listen to this CD so I'm limited to rate their whole work and his evolution. I'm a Pink Floyd - Genesis - Marilion fan and also a classical music addicted. The influence from the classical music (mainly orchestral) is evident in their compositions, and I will say that this kind of progressive rock is very fine and complicated. People that is open minded music listeners will enjoy this CD very much, but expect everything but commercial or popular music.

There are a few other albums to make sure and get first! Overground Music, De Profundis, and ...They are always better when sticking to singing Hungarian (at least the men). Here they also try sounding more like an ELP, which for me doesn't work well. It's better than most rock, though. Not enough of their classical side on 6.