Though they were recorded about 2 years apart, Ilusoes and Estado de Alerta Maximo can be reviewed together as they're cut from exactly the same cloth. Tesis Arsis is the nom-de plume for Brazilian composer Anderson Rodrigues' one-man band, which sounds like an icy instrumental electronic take on Wind and Wuthering era Genesis. The CDs under review each comprise over an hour of material where the average composition is twelve minutes in length. Over the course of both CDs, Rodrigues maintains a nice thick Steve Hackett tone over a massed bed of synthesized strings and organs.
Unfortunately, the pattern seldom changes; nearly every arrangement on any given piece of music is interchangeable with the song that came before. To be sure, there are some variations in tempo and occasional time changes, but there aren't enough distinguishable melodies to make me want to hit the repeat button. On the other hand, there's nothing unpleasant about Tesis Arsis either. "Cemiterio dos Vivos" from Illusoes is legitimately majestic even if the track could use some editing. Likewise, the 22-minute title track that closes Estado de Alerta Maximo has some admirable Mike Oldfield-ian qualities and otherworldly Rick Wakeman inspired (synthesized) church organ, all of which are summarily negated by needlessly padded arrangements.
Overall, I really like what Tesis Arsis is trying to do, hence the marginal recommendation. If Rodrigues employed a few more outside ears to reign himself in, he could really be on to something significant.
Ilusoes
- Ilusoes (12:58)
- Cemiterio dos Vivos (15:58)
- Global (11:11)
- Num temp So (6:03)
- Hale Bopp (19:17)
Estado de Alerta Maximo
- Hiroshima 45 (12:38)
- Ecos Vibrantes (10:10)
- Fuga (12:06)
- Um Azul Celeste (14:41)
- Estado de Alerta Maximo (22:20)
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