Cartoon
Bigorna

Be warned, it won't be easy to find this record; you won't find it at the store down the street, in a megastore, or even on the most famous mail orders. And it's a real shame because you'll miss the sponge effect of these crazy Brazilians, capable of plundering forty years of rock and emerging with a criminal record as clean as a whistle and receiving thunderous applause from quite a few big names.

Imagine the Zappa-esque eccentricities, the Queen-like choruses, the hard guitars of Led Zeppelin, the symphonism of bands like Renaissance and Genesis, the virtuosity of Keith Emerson, reggae and blues elements, medieval dances, American ballads, put all this in the hands of guys with names like Khadhu, Bhydhu, Khykho, Boxexa, helped by a series of guests on flutes, cellos, violins, trumpets, and more, and you'll only have a vague idea of what this record could be. Because all these ingredients are mixed in such a personal way that the final result is something absolutely new and different from the sum of its parts.

Right from the quirky cover, where the characters of the Round Table admire an improbable Excalibur in Hammer version, you sense the jovial and grotesque spirit, a spirit found in these 73 minutes and 18 tracks where, while being lulled by a medieval lullaby, you are suddenly jerked by an Emersonian fanfare or majestic choruses turn into mocking falsettos. The technical skills of the band are so high that harsh contrasts between the various atmospheres that permeate the album and form a true rock opera are rarely created. Even the vocals, usually a weak point of many bands with great performing abilities, are incisive and powerful in both solo and choral parts, and for a self-produced album, the final mix and listening quality are remarkable.

Here we have a particular progressive interpretation of rock in all its facets, and even for those not familiar with the genre, listening is not at all heavy because everything is blended with skillful mastery, without self-indulgence and without emphasizing one aspect at the expense of another.