Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Absolutely passionate avant prog, January 24, 2006
The power and beauty of Elfonia's elegant music mostly lies in Alejandro Millan's keyboard work and the emotive voice of Marcela Bovio. They already proved their talents on their debut release, which is a successful blend of gothic, rock, pop and prog. Their new sophomore output This Sonic Landscape, however, finds them growing into a more mature band with a heavier focus on songmanship and taking considerable input from their band mates. The drumming of Javier Garagarza is a huge step forward on this disc, not to mention the bass and the eloquent guitar work. As a whole, Elfonia has grown and progressed into a more experienced act with a more defined sound and musical approach.
Anyone who attemps to label Elfonia as a fully gothic band is being senseless and unfair. As a matter of fact, besides the darkness factor that permeats their songcraft, I'd be hard-pressed to find a completely gothic rock song on this album, except perhaps "... de los libros del tiempo", a tune filled with heavily atmospheric keyboard sounds. Shortly after its start, the song does stray away into a much different territory though. Brief bass rhythms secretly drive the piece towards a more symphonic area, with glistening cymbal splashes enhancing the song quality. The song's resolution is reached when a somewhat bluesy guitar solo is delivered by Roberto Quintanilla, destroying any gothic references this band has been tagged with.
Repeat listens will reveal that the album is very varied in nature. Not just stylistically, but Marcela Bovio has also penned some English lyrics for a couple of songs, which should gain the band some international success. The music presented on this release is very cohesive throughout; but at the same time, the band opts for much-welcome jazz stylings and touches of avant garde. Granted most of the songs vary from slow to mid-tempo pieces, the band will surprise with various shifts of rhythm, mostly rendered through rhythm guitars and drums. "Desaciertos" is one of these tracks. It has a very slow piano intro but slowly picks up in pace as it borrows some bluesy guitar lines, symphonic elements, and sweeping keyboard arrangements. Huge guitar chords weave themselves into the song delivering fluctuating rhythms for a while, only to be replaced by a sad violin melody played by none other than Marcela Bovio. The jazzy side of the album is particularly to my liking, as it lends This Sonic Landscape a progressive flair. From the off-time jazz drums and guitar on "Maquina" to the heavily fusion-inflected "Camaleon", also sporting a guest appearance by Arjen Luccassen on lead guitar, the songs are coloured with jazz piano and dark guitar riffs. They both feature breakdowns for Pablo Gonzalez' delicate bass guitar, which is further explored during Lucassen's solo. The arrangement of the bass and the way it is layered over the guitar chords is truly inspiring. "Letargo" is an instrumental that is built around dark keyboard textures, folky acoustics producing sparse yet effective guitar notes. "Manana" sees them playing a more upbeat cut with classic rock tendencies with a playful solo. The song does end with distinct jazz licks in order to stay true to the general flow of the album though. Pink Floyd similarities could be drawn on "Traveling", one of the three English-sung tracks featuring a beautiful drum fade-out.
The last three tracks comprise the album's epic "Gigantes", a trilogy that breaks the 15-minute mark. A bit different from the individual tracks, this trilogy is punctuated with rich keyboards that build on until the atmospheric apex is reached, where crushing guitars are introduced laying down avante garde sludge-like riffs heavier than a ten-ton hammer. The middle piece, also the longest on the album, simply titled "II", is Alejandro Millan's shining moment, not just as a keyboard and concertina expert, but moreso as a songwriter. This track is mostly instrumental save for some very sweet wordless vocal melodies hummed by Marcela towards the end. The song is fed through lush keyboards and vivid drums that become more audible with each beat and speeding the piece up. By the time the song nears its end, we're experiencing a thick wall of sound with perfect harmony among each instrument. "III" is not only the album's finale, but also Marcela's third song with English lyrics. It ends with her otherworldly vocals that eventually give way to another forlorn violin piece offering segments of folk music. It is a very beautiful ending to a very beautiful album. The fact that Marcela Bovio has already made a great name for herself with Ayreon and (together with Alejandro Millan) Stream of Passion, Elfonia is bound to have some serious following from European prog music fans as well as establish them as a more solid band. Watch them - they're going to be big.
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Tracklisting- IV . Máquina . Soundscapes . Desaciertos . ...de los libros del tiempo . Camaleón . Letargo . Mañana . Traveling . Gigantes I . Gigantes II . Gigantes III
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Pure Soundscapes, January 24, 2006
Well this is an awsome album. My hero is Javier! he freakin kicks Portnoy's ass! (Moment overhelming's exageration)
I can say this: This Sonic Landscape is one of the few cd's that has no extra songs. It's deep, harmonious, heavy and has a bunch of amazing solos from each bandmember! That Jazzy bass, heavy and beautiful guitar, ambiental keyboards and that freakin amazing drum lines make the songs perfectly fussioned. I can sense the feelings with Marcela's voice. My fav song is "...de los libros del tiempo". "Mañana" and "Máquina" are typical elfonia's great songs. "Gigantes II" is one of the crazyest instrumental songs that can truly connect 2 different songs. A la Dream Theater.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I LOVE ELFONIA, April 5, 2006
Efonia is awesome, i have only heard a couple songs for this album, but there first album was near untouchable !!!
For for info check out and/or join my Elfonia fan page at
http://groups.myspace.com/Elfonia
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- the new music site from IMDb and Amazon.
