After Life – Cauchemar. 1975. D: 9. One of those albums that Mike would call “anally rare”, a term that not only is accurate, but that is still hysterically funny to me after all these years. French group whose only album gained a release in Spain. Turns out someone was digging through an old farmhouse in Aragon and found a stash under the hay, behind the pitchforks (not true – but you can just hear it can’t you?). As for the music, it’s one of the most baffling releases I’ve heard in years. On the plus half, there’s a haunting progressive laced sound, with that doomy vibe only the French seem to conjure up. Recalls first album East of Eden or The Visitors, and the vocalist has that gruff voice which is very similar to the guy from Alusa Fallax. Most of these are sung, whispered, narrated in French. On the downside, and I mean really down, there’s these godawful rock n roll tracks, like Bad Company playing the most insipid Deep Purple tunes. Complete with honky-tonk piano, harmonica and badly accented English vocals. It’s not a good A-side, bad B-side situation, but rather they are intertwined. After the first song I was at a 12. After the second I was thinking maybe a 7, then a 5 – up to an 8. You get the idea… Get a burn of it, but don’t spend too much time digging for it – at the record show or in the Spanish landscape….

Time’s Forgotten – A Relative Moment of Peace. 2006. D: 9. I received a burn of this and the Federico Miranda album courtesy of Gnosis member Tomas Casanova. These are both albums from his native country of Costa Rica and a very kind offer indeed. What strikes me most about both is just how professional the productions are – if I didn’t know any better, I’d swear they were on Sony or BMG. Time’s Forgotten is all about the Dream Theater school of prog metal. Lots of complex instrumentals (which they pull off seamlessly) combined with modern ideas (including electronic percussion), flashy keyboards and an eye on the charts. The ballads and AOR moments are what turned me off most, but that’s a genre expectation, and much of their fan base is most likely keen on it. Lengthy album that uses most of the space available, so plenty to mine on revisits. Quality stuff here, and I know if more heard it, would go over big with folks who order from Laser’s Edge and the power prog crowd.

Federico Miranda – Baula Project. 2005. D: 9. As with the above, a high quality production. This is an instrumental guitarist’s album through and through. Federico takes on the style challenge, and we get everything from shredding metal to wah wah psych to new age lounge bits, over to funk and everything in between. Good stuff from a country who’s emerging on the international music scene. Thanks Tomas!