BETO VAZQUEZ INFINITY - DARKMIND
BVM RECORDS / ICE WARRIOR RECORDS
Metal To Infinity
Argentina
has more to offer than good football players. Beto Vazquez is an Argentinean
musician that surprised us in 2002 with his first album. Especially the presence
of Tarja Turunen (ex Nightwish) was glorious on that release. I still pity the
fact she left Nightwish because she is and will be forever the ‘voice’ of
this band. Ever since she left the band I lost my interest for it. Also her
appearance on Beto Vazquez’s debut album was mind blowing. “Until Dawn”
and “The Battle Of The Past” are songs that will keep on playing in my mind
until I’ll take my very last breath!
Meanwhile
Beto Vazquez released the disappointing “Flying Towards The New Horizon”.
For some reason I never got into this CD, maybe I was expecting too much.
“Darkmind” was officially released in 2008 and it’s thanks to the fact Ice
Warrior Records / Rock It Up Records decided to re-release it I received it to
make a review. After a few spins I’m convinced it was a good idea to release
this one again. This album reminds me to the debut; the same special atmosphere
of the debut album returned. This is once more the kind of Epic modern Power and
Fantasy Metal I was longing for.
The
angelic voices are back and Beto Vazquez performed some outstanding ‘soul
touching’ tracks on this release. You will discover beauty in every track,
Beto Vazquez is classical schooled and his back ground is obvious in every note
on “Darkmind”. The combination of bombastic keyboards and those female
vocals, played on fantastic technical guitar driven arrangements, are just
fantastic. Add first class shredding guitar solos and you’ll have the idea
what I am talking about. More than once you’ll be dreaming away because of the
soft female voices, performed on those emotional arrangements.
Plenty
of guest musicians are present here. Vision Divine, Skylark, Stream Of Passion
and Heaven Falls, to name a few, delivered some of their disciples to play along
with Beto Vazquez. I think these bands are as a matter of fact good examples for
what you can expect from Beto Vazquez’s music. Okay, it might sound mellow and
cheesy at some points but this remains first class melodic Power Metal. This
female fronted kind of music (with Sandra Schleret, Sabrina Carrion, Manda
Ophius to name a few) is seducing and will calm you down, no matter how stressed
you are or will ever be! Especially on the calm and peaceful arrangements the
listener will maintain some cold shivers! “Sleeping in the shadows’ and
“Close Your Eyes” for example are ballads that picture perfectly what I am
trying to explain. Tracks like “Follow The Moonlight”, “From Your Heart”
and “Mystic” are more the kind of songs I adore.
It
shouldn’t be fair to compare “Darkmind” constantly with the debut album
because of the fact Tarja Turunen makes the difference. Her voice is Godlike and
no woman on earth can hook up with her. Anyhow, if you have ever heard the first
album you can easily imagine how “Darkmind” musical wise sounds. Imagine the
quality of the first release without the tracks Tarja is singing on and you know
what I am talking about. Also on this release I hear awesome and beautiful
female voices. I'm quite sure fans of this kind of Metal will adore “Darkmind”.
Beto Vazquez is after all a fantastic composer and his project is worth checking
it out.
I
can say this is a very good release and it even contains two great bonus tracks,
including the Spanish version of “The Tunnel Of The Souls”. I’ve heard
great tracks, created and composed in a good mood. This is the softer side of
Heavy Metal and this music is ready to be discovered by a bigger crowd. I’m
sure even non-Metal fans will bow their heads for what Beto Vazquez did on this
CD. Check http://www.rockitup.org
to purchase this one.
My Points: 84 / 100 (Review by Officer Nice)