Cygnus - Liquid mirrors 3.5/5
Reviewed: 7-1-12
Tracklist:
1. Liquid mirrors
2. Secret love
3. In the blink of an eye
4. Immortality
5. Hide on my own
6. Wings of revenge
7. The passion
8. Order in chaos
9. The red twilight of the gloury's flames
10. Cry of a goddess
11. Adventure
12. Plains of sorrow
13. Last hope
14. Alfa omega
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Guatemala isn't known for their output of metal, but sometimes great things come from unexpected places. The full-length debut 'Liquid mirrors' from Cygnus is a perfect example. This CD has impressed me in many ways, and I'm glad I have the opportunity to introduce the band and this self-released debut to all of you, as this is certainly a rare find, yet more than worthy of recognition.
This young band's range of musical styles is quite big, as they hit all sides of power metal, there's some progressive metal, some powerful symphonic metal, some neo-classical segments, and the balance of tempo is really well done; plenty of speed and some slow parts too. While I could mention many different bands from many different styles as comparisons, I'm going to give you just one band, and that is Stratovarius. Mostly their 90s-era material, but I hear elements from their entire discography. While similar in many ways to Stratovarius however, they have their own identity and 'Liquid mirrors' doesn't sound exactly like any other CD. It's a unique and interesting journey through the different styles and changes in tempo.
Vocally, the band is fronted by the clear and fairly high-pitched Paolo Rozzotto, who is also the lead guitarist. There are female vocals too though, from Carlina Esther (whose voice is of the soprano type), and there are even some choirs. Rafael Castillo is the other guitarist, Alex Chur is the bassist, and Eddy Avila is the drummer. The use of 2 guitarists allows for many guitar solos and they're all fantastic. I always like guitar solos (regardless of style), and thankfully this CD has plenty of them. The aspect of this CD that stands out the most to me is the songwriting though. None of the songs absolutely blow me away, but the entire CD is consistently great and it's obvious that this is a talented band with a bright future.
One thing worth mentioning is that this CD has a massive running-length of 80 minutes. Some of the songs are extra-short and some are extra-long, but believe it or not, I still haven't come to a conclusion on whether the CD's length is a good or a bad thing. It's hard to see it as a negative aspect, when every song is great. That said, 80 minutes is a really long time. Regardless of length though, the fact is that this is a promising debut and I hope to see more CDs from this band.
CLINT
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