*. Jaime Rosas .*

Album: Virgo (2003)
Genre: Prog Rock (Symphonic)  /  Chile

Is what Jaime Rosas offers with his first solo album released in 2003 and entitled "Virgo", an album in which we can appreciate the evident talent that this trained musician from Chile has. It comprises eleven compositions, though four of them belong to a block named "Sinfonía", and five to this kind of collection called "Breves Piezas Rockeras". The album as a whole lasts 58 minutes, it was fully composed and arranged by Jaime Rosas, so please put attention to him. It opens with "Plegaria", a six-minute track which has a slow-tempo base, in which keyboards manage to create everything, I mean, atmosphere, nuances, textures, etc. It is a nice introductory track, though the best is coming later in the album. However, as I said, this is only an introduction which shows us part of his talent anyways. From track 2 to 5 we will find the symphonies, simply entitled "Sinfonía 1, 2, 3, and 4". The first one is the longest with 13 minutes length, and here the keyboard feast begins. Jaime Rosas brings a wonderful mixture of emotions and passages, changes throughout the whole song that in spite of its differences, work perfectly together. The symphonic prog sound is inhenert in Rosas' music, and what better example than naming a bunch of tracks as "Sinfonías", so go figure, it also talks about his classical music skills and trains. By the way, worth mentioning is that the music here (with the exception of one track) is completely instrumental. "2" starts in a much softer way, and continues with that tranquility for the whole track; the music re is really calm, gentle and charming so one can feel relaxed and with peace here. I suggest using good headphones if you want to truly appreciate the variety of elements added here, because there is a vast amount. Though keyboards is what always predominate, it is nice to listen to the bass lines and drums (all created by the same Rosas) that complement the music. "3" is the shortest of these symphonies, but it is vertiginous since the first seconds. Later it is progressing little by little, with fore and back keyboards while bass and drums appear once again. Finally the fourth ("4") finishes with this batch of tracks. It creates a dark and tense atmosphere that prevails during the seven minutes, though in the last two with the entrance of drums the mood and rhythm changes a little bit. "Lluvia" is the only song with lyrics, sung by Jaime Scalpello. After some 40 seconds of introductory piano and keyboards, the voice appears and complements the music, creating together a warm, soft and delicate sound. The song flows and continues like this until its very end. It was nice to have a non-instrumental track on the album. The last five pieces belong to this group named "Breves Piezas Rockeras" something like "brief rock pieces", and they all have the same name, only with the respective number. And these are actually short tracks, the five together make only 12 minutes of music, however, one can have a vertiginous yet involving trip while listening to them. Fast and bombastic keyboards in moments; some softer passages; symphonic progressive rock with some heavier touches, is what we will find in this five-piece collection. Review by "memowakeman" (Prog Archives).

RATING:  7.75 / 10

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