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Thread: FEATURED CD - Cast : Angels And Demons

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    Moderator Duncan Glenday's Avatar
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    FEATURED CD - Cast : Angels And Demons



    Per my old friend 'Progladyte' on the old PE site:
    This is another band that had escaped my notice for far too long so it was with much enthusiasm I whacked this disc into my player to see what delights were about to unfold. Naturally, their sound is dominated by a plethora of keyboards, as Alfonso Vidales is a monster player with some very tasty ideas and compositions. The title track features some really impressive piano that will surely impress. Having said that, however, the guitar work and drumming is also right on cue with time changes galore and plenty of fancy fills. References to Hackett & Banks are plentiful throughout although it is hard to criticise any of the good players in this band for trying to emulate the better exponents of these styles and techniques. After all, there is only so much variation you can use with an instrument until and unless you physically alter the structure of a song.

    Whether it's the fact that I am fairly easily pleased by most of the progressive rock bands who embody the brilliant marriage of guitars and keyboards within their music today, is hard to say, however, Cast have unleashed a wonderful collection of songs that just totally reach my ears the way I like symphonic rock music to do. Their style embodies both the vintage 70’s sound with some refreshing neo leanings as well. Nothing wrong with that! Vocals are very well handled with most songs featuring meaningful lyrics and references to plenty of today's modern topics. This band has been another great discovery for me as the “learning process” between sorting the good from the bad to the worse can be painful, time consuming and costly to say the least.

    They have several other releases which typifies the well intentioned aims of a band as prolific as Cast but I understand their very first few releases are nowhere near as good as this one. Criticisms? Perhaps with a band as prolific as Cast, one might expect a little repetition or lack of variety within the songs and this is possibly true. Being such a long album, the sameness can't be ignored but I prefer to put it down to the lack of any really memorable hooks within the lyrics and songs themselves. There certainly isn't another “Ripples” to be found on this album but the band may address that issue in the future. Their vocalist is lost a bit in the mix and doesn't strike me as all that powerful, but when he does his job well, it makes an impact. In the meantime I am revelling in the wonderful keyboards playing counterpoint to the guitar and feel I have certainly got my money's worth with this disc

    Good progressive rock music from Mexico was supposed to be as rare as rocking horse dung but Cast have changed my opinion about this area of the world and have debunked the fallacy that good music can't come from these nether regions, well off the traditional music map. Their great input to the growing world of progressive rock will only help to make our beloved genre of music an even better one. A solid effort!


    Regards,

    Duncan

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    I have always liked this one. They played ProgDay on the tour for this album and featured a lot of it live. One of their better efforts IMO.

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    I like this band quite a bit musically - a good combination of complex prog and jamming. Never cared much for the singer. With that said, this is by far my favorite release of theirs.

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    Member mellotron storm's Avatar
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    I have five CAST albums including a live one and feel this is the best of what I have. Just couldn't get into this band although I did think this was pretty good and even great if they cut it down to about 50 minutes. Just my opinion. I did sell one of my CAST cds to someone on here.
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  6. #6
    Of their English language releases, this is by far the best. Alfonso Vidales has a very deep, classically-influenced style which lifts them above the rest of the neo-prog camp. If you haven’t heard them before, start here. Though pretty much everything from Endless Signs on is guaranteed to be at least good (well, Legacy never clicked with me, I guess that particular sound was getting a bit stale so it’s good that they shook the bottle up a bit for future releases), and earlier albums (especially Four Aces, beware the hideously cheesy cover art, though) do have their moments.
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    Member Paulrus's Avatar
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    This one is where they finally grew up enough to let go of the mid-period Genesis training wheels. IMO they got a little bit better with every album after this, though I agree it's a good place to start.

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    Listening to this right now, and I like it a lot better than many of the featured CDs. There is some very talented playing here. It's a little overlong, perhaps, considering that there is not much variation in style.

    I find it interesting that some people have a problem with the vocals. I'd rather listen to this vocalist than, say, Geddy Lee or Jamie laBrie.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Progbear View Post
    Of their English language releases, this is by far the best. Alfonso Vidales has a very deep, classically-influenced style which lifts them above the rest of the neo-prog camp. If you haven’t heard them before, start here. Though pretty much everything from Endless Signs on is guaranteed to be at least good (well, Legacy never clicked with me, I guess that particular sound was getting a bit stale so it’s good that they shook the bottle up a bit for future releases), and earlier albums (especially Four Aces, beware the hideously cheesy cover art, though) do have their moments.
    Oh come now, the Four Aces cover art is not that bad, it's good for a laugh!

    I checked on the progarchives site, and while many of their album covers are better than Four Aces, there are several that I think are worse, including the Featured CD here. That painting seems to be trying to make some kind of statement, and failing. When I look at it, I keep seeing four guys lying in a hammock, and I'm sure that's not what it's supposed to be.

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    I have tried (and failed) to get into Cast. Maybe I'll give this one a try.
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    There is a really nice part towards the end, about the 1-hour mark, that reminded me of Genesis circa After the ordeal - though certainly not a copy of that track. I would have liked more moments like that on the album.

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    Highly Evolved Orangutan JKL2000's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by bob_32_116 View Post
    Oh come now, the Four Aces cover art is not that bad, it's good for a laugh!

    I checked on the progarchives site, and while many of their album covers are better than Four Aces, there are several that I think are worse, including the Featured CD here. That painting seems to be trying to make some kind of statement, and failing. When I look at it, I keep seeing four guys lying in a hammock, and I'm sure that's not what it's supposed to be.
    What do you want, it's like 1/100 the size of an LP sleeve.

  13. #13
    Have to say that I've always found them pretty dull, and especially when they attempt vocals in English. Taken to account that South- and Latin America has such an enormous wealth of exciting cutting-edge music (including rock), it's somewhat telling how a band with such an (IMHO) anonymous sound and appearance as Cast makes its mark with a "progressive" audience.
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  14. #14
    They used to whip these out like hotcakes. Got some listening out of them back in the day, but didn't make the long term cut in my collection.

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    Member Digital_Man's Avatar
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    It's kind of a cross between neo and symph prog if I remember right. Someone taped it for me a long time ago(it might have been "beyond reality" though). Anyway, whichever one it was I remember liking it.
    Last edited by Digital_Man; 06-16-2015 at 12:24 PM.

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    Member Paulrus's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Digital_Man View Post
    It's kind of a cross between neo and symph prog if I remember right.
    That's a fair description of their general style. Their later albums moved away from the neo and were more Italo-prog, IMO.
    I'm holding out for the Wilson-mixed 5.1 super-duper walletbuster special anniversary extra adjectives edition.

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    I seriously suggest the bands' Spanish re-recordings of their early material in their 2001 release Laguna de Volcanes

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    Moderator Duncan Glenday's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Digital_Man View Post
    It's kind of a cross between neo and symph prog if I remember right...
    Not that it matters ... but IMO, it's pure neo.
    Regards,

    Duncan

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    I liked but didn't love this when I first got it back in 1998 or so, but I recently acquired the 2007 album "Com.Union" and was pretty impressed- I think they've gotten better over the years.

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