After the initial barrage of amazing guitar and keyboard trade-offs throughout the opening fourteen-minute title track, it's obvious that Priam have joined the ranks of the elite in the world of progressive fusion. Alongside such other recent instrumental releases from Spaced Out, Miriodor, and One Shot, Priam offer complex virtuoso arrangements and atmospheric tonal colors.
The synergy between guitarist Chris Casagrande and keyboardist Laurent Lacombe is mind blowing. Those who can really appreciate interplay between musicians will wet their pants after hearing tracks like "Granito Rose del Oeste" with its searing guitar solos (a la Al DiMeola) and fluid synth runs. In fact, many tracks have a similar feel to the best of Return to Forever, especially in their Romantic Warrior days. Although a few of the CD's eight tracks exceed seven minutes, the music is never boring, as the band adds heaping amounts of melody to go along with the crazy instrumental flights. The drum and bass work is exceptional, and while also very technical has a sort of ethnic feel to it. There are also a few guest artists who contribute sax, violin and clarinet, which add a nice jazzy touch to a few of the songs.
Chalk up another winner for the Musea label, who keep finding stellar groups in the fusion genre as if they were growing on trees. Hot stuff here, and highly recommended.
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