AGORA - SEGUNDO PASADO - 2001

The production isn't the greatest... but I can still hear the riffs.
I am huge progressive metal fan (well a progressive music fan in general actually... but that's not worth mentioning on a METAL site ;}). Anyway, I decided that I was going to take a nice dip into the pool of extremely UNDERGROUND progressive metal and I found this band. The fact that they are from Mexico intrigued me in the first place, and then the fact that they are a progressive metal band as well drew me in completely. I am not going to cut this band slack for not being a progressive metal monster like Pain of Salvation, Dream Theater, Symphony X, Threshold, Evergrey, Mayadome, Superior, Fates Warning, Ark,..ect. I am going to make them stand on their own and judge them just as I would a Dream Theater album... so I guess an 86% would mean they're pretty good?

The guitar playing is very good. It seems that the lead singer/guitarist is the mastermind behind this band. I love his rich beautiful vocals singing the hispanic lyrics... mmm, the spanish language spills off the tongue like no other... I hear a lot of keyboard /w guitar technical displays that you commonly hear with other progressive metal bands... I must say,...
that I actually prefer this band when it comes to matters as such ... keyboard vs. guitar.. It's meshed into a beautiful symphony with an almost spanish flavor... (but maybe my mind is only implying that because the band is hispanic).. I also notice the use of some guitar synth. Sometimes I think, "Is that the keyboard?! No... that's the guitar." ... All of the music flows perfectly but keeps it's complexity (a problem with some bands). But is more jagged than Fates Warning, IMHO. The guitar leads are solid and have great timing... but I think the keys are the highlight of this disk. They're classic and relaxed but they're not boring! Don't get me wrong, ...I love very interesting and creative keyboard parts. But these keys just have the perfect feel for the music here.. Anyway, the overall song-writing is pretty solid and the songs are written well... a lot of parts are extremely balanced but intense parts.. and that's impressive. This band is inbetween Dream Theater and more melodic and chilled out bands like Evergrey... a great medium indeed. When I first stumbled across this band... I didn't expect this.
Anyway, if you can afford it,.. order this album off their website! Or just try your best to find it on the internet (that's what I did... but it took a long time to do.. hehe).
http://metal-archives.com