ARTiST: Into the Presence
ALBUM: Into the Presence
BiTRATE: 202kbps avg
QUALiTY: EAC Secure Mode / LAME 3.97 Final / -V2 --vbr-new / 44.100Khz
LABEL: Razor & Tie
GENRE: Progressive Rock
SiZE: 54.63 megs
PLAYTiME: 0h 35min 58sec total
RiP DATE: 2009-08-07
STORE DATE: 2009-04-28
Track List:
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01. End Game 3:50
02. Lovers 2:52
03. The Garden 3:30
04. Broken Words 3:13
05. Phone Call 3:49
06. You and I 4:09
07. Radio 3:24
08. My Only Crime 3:57
09. Dear Father 3:39
10. Coming Home 3:35
Release Notes:
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IT'S PROBABLY too much to hope that one record could restore the word "prog" as
a compliment rather than a pejorative, but let's try anyway: "Into the Presence"
is superlative progressive rock and one of the best rock albums of the year.
It's a coming-out party for Luis Carlos Maldonado, a session guitar virtuoso who
is finally making his solo debut. The drummer is Tim Alexander of Primus and A
Perfect Circle, but he's the solid, professional complement: The crunching
riffs, soaring voice and wall-to-wall guitars are all Maldonado -- no
synthesizers required.
Maldonado's tremolo and preference for a high vocal range are obviously
reminiscent of Queen, but that's hard to fault. His skill as a rhythm guitarist
is established on the first track, "End Game," in which he does a
call-and-answer with acoustic arpeggios and electrified riffs.
The highlight of the 10-song set is in the middle, where the majestic "The
Garden" is followed by classic rock nugget "Broken Words." There's a bit of
Spanish guitar in the love song "My Only Crime," which also has bilingual
lyrics.
While bands such as the Darkness ironically parody Queen's falsetto, "Into the
Presence" resurrects the monstrous power of a cranked-up guitar amp behind a
full-blast love song. If there's still such a thing as rock-and-roll radio, this
album should be in heavy rotation.
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