(Symphonic Prog / Progressive Rock) Alms - Beyond - 2013, APE (image+.cue), lossless

Since being a little child, Aitor Lucena?s interest for music has been obsessively increasing throughout the years. After growing up with the music of
bands and musicians such as Mike Oldfield, Pink Floyd and Jethro Tull (to name a few), he definitely jumps into music along with Heavy Metal, astonished
by the powerful sound of Iron Maiden, Helloween and Blind Guardian (again, to name a few). So he starts taking guitar lessons and, meanwhile, searches
for people to share his musical concerns. That?s how, being a teenager, Aitor Lucena begins taking part in local bands, playing -well, trying to- covers
of their idols, but mostly drinking beer, having fun and learning a lot. Soon Aitor realizes that he could do something on his own, so he starts writing
and composing his own material. At first it is simple, immature and schematic due to the lack of experience, but the satisfaction gained from hearing his
own creations makes him want to go further in his compositions, so he begins learning from Symphonic and Progressive Rock, Classical Music and, to sum up,
from all kinds of complex music. Aitor Lucena becomes a prog-head and starts experimenting with ?weird? stuff: odd time signatures, tempo changing, long-
lasting suites? Along with the bands mentioned before, he is strongly influenced by Genesis, ELP, Gentle Giant, Le Orme and all the greatest prog bands,
so the time to start a prog band by himself had come. But given the fact that Progressive Rock is not very popular nowadays (specially in Spain), the task
wouldn?t be easy. Meanwhile, and working as a teacher, Aitor earns a little money which he invests on several instruments and a humble home studio. In
order to get the most from it, he starts studying a Grade in Sound Engineering and keeps on with his compositions.After several failed attempts to start a
band, he decides to record his music on his own? and Aitor created ALMS? and he saw that it was good?

This is a nice instrumental album with plenty of symphonic arrangements. The tone is mostly rather light with a few heavy and fast moments thrown in,
though I feel they don't really accomplish much. Flutes are the driving instruments here, and the musicians really power through the solos and
accompaniments. I was quite impressed with this. Aside from that, the other instruments are lackluster, especially the drums. This album has problems,
though. The structures are messy. Very messy. The flutes overpower everything else, and erase any subtlety that may have been displayed in the other
instruments. Sometimes, it seems like the flutes are playing a different song entirely. Sometimes it's the violins that feel this way. The album just
comes across as beautiful, but incoherent and chaotic. Maybe that's what they wanted, but it doesn't make for a good listening experience. It's a pretty
album, but the music needs work and maturity.

Except for the usual suspects as MIKE OLDFIELD or VANGELIS, I'm not too fond on one man bands, but the first time I heard ALMS debut Beyond, was positively
impressed, AITOR LUCENA is very talented in all the instruments, but what I liked more were the drums, being that this is usually the weakest point of multi
-instrumentalists, but in this case, the sound is great. Beyond is a conceptual album about the journey of man after death and it's divided in three epics
with clear Symphonic structures, but deliciously blended with Folk and Hard Rock sections, creating a unique experience with his eclectic sound.The album
is opened by the Hypnos, a 14:14 minutes epic that starts with a percussion and flute intro, after almost two minutes and without any warning, a full
orchestral sound hits the listener whio can only applaud, but when you're getting ready to expect an orchestral Symphonic album in the vein of Heaven &
Hell, Aitor surprises us with a heavy passage, from then on, the changes are so radical that the only rule you need is to expect the unexpected.
Sweet piano, Moog, acoustic guitar, full orchestra, one after the other, fused with dexterity and great taste crossing through every imaginable style, from
Medieval to Baroque and frenetic Rock as a musical travel in time, simply delightful Even when Thanatos maintains the Symphonic structure, Aitor adds
abundant Folk with Celtic references, but after a medieval passage, the drums announce a change and the music starts to go in crescendo leaded by a dramatic
organ, and then, as in the first track, the listener must be ready for anything, this time sounds a bit as Symphonic Metal with the usual classical
references. Aitor again hits the nail right in the head with the second of three epics that remind me of the heavier JETHRO TULL albums. The album is closed
by a third epic called Caronte (the ferryman of Hades), much more dramatic and Classical oriented than the first two pieces, with more unexpected changes
specially the one from a frantic organ passage to a sweet flute in the vein of THIJS VAN LEER, then to an almost Metallic style to end with a Celtic
passage, all in a matter of two minutes. Really loved this track, has every single detail and excesses that obsessive progheads as myself enjoy so much.
As a rule, I almost never rate a debut album with 5 stars, because that would be like admitting that the artist has reached his peak, and in the case of
ALMS I expect much more. To be fair, Beyond deserves no less than a 4.5 rating, sadly the system of our beloved site only admits full stars, so I will have
to go with four solid stars, and wait with anxiety for ALMS next release.

- Aitor Lucena - All instruments