Rael - Mascaras Urbanas
These guys were trailblazers I’m telling you, before the Musical Box, before the Watch, in fact I think only Kyrie Eleison beat them to the punch in making the perfect old Genesis record that wasn’t by Genesis. Except that all of those similar examples are quite a bit better than this, at least in the compositional department (especially the Musical Box ;)). Sonically, “Rael” (you think they’re talking about that cult in France or …?) are actually pretty solid for the most part, but man I started wishing they’d start to suck a little more, it would have been more entertaining. This is ground about as fertile as a nuclear wasteland at this point, despite the fertilizer thrown upon it so very often. It’s made Rael barely a blip on the meter.
Wastefall - Self Exile
I feel like I have to repeat the “I am not a prog metal fan” mantra every time I listen to an album in the genre and want to talk about it. But honestly I tend to find the ones I hear on the Sensory label to be interesting and unique and Wastefall isn’t really alone there. It’s still a bit too reminiscent of the Dream Theater ilk to be really up my alley, but they’ve got some cool keyboards in slots and some unique choices in their compositional work that I find quite interesting. And most importantly they’re not tacky or overwrought, definitely a bit on the melodramatic side as anything in the general era, but filled with enough dark and muscular bits to tone the sweet nature down a lot. The exception to this being the ballad “Sleepwalk,” especially the crying bit. Not bad at all overall, I think I’m liking this a little more the second time around.