Cast - Vigesimus (Their 20th Album!)

[JKL2000]

Doh! I should have done that. Believe it or not - I've never used Bandcamp.

Get out of town! Really? If you're trying to listen to a band's music and it's not on Spotify, try Bandcamp, and vice versa. In most cases, you'll find it on one or both.

[progmatist]

How is the Blu-Ray over all? I accidentally managed to get a free download of it from Bandcamp (accidental social engineering!), so I thought I'd pass on the Blu-Ray, just because I was honest with myself and figured I'd probably watch it once, and I'm probably set with the download. I would have paid for the download.

Very enjoyable.

[Dan Roth]

Nice review is up for the new one:

http://www.dprp.net/reviews/2021-029#cast

[JKL2000]

Nice review is up for the new one:

http://www.dprp.net/reviews/2021-029#cast

Yeah, I saw that and at least one other similar review. Seems it's sitting well with a lot of old Cast-heads. Sean McFee, have you listened to this yet?

My copy ordered from the band arrived today - listening to it now!

[mozo-pg]

I recommend that you take two steps before getting the new release:

1) Purchase the "Power And Outcome" CD.

2) Put on track 1, "Rules Of The Desert"

Those 11 plus minutes of sheer sonic beauty will be a perfect review of some of the latter day brilliance of Cast.

I bought it but the seller refunded my purchase as they didn't ship to Canada. I had to pay a few bucks more but I went to the band's webiste and bought Power and Outcome. I'm really excited to hear the full album.

[JKL2000]

Is it just my CD, or does track 8 (The March) end VERY abruptly? I'm not sure if that's maybe for artistic effect, an accident, or just my copy. Probably not just my copy though...

[miamiscot]

After about eight or nine spins I can honestly say that Vigesimus is an Album Of The Year contender. I only have the latest six Cast albums (from Originallis on) and although I really like Power & Outcome, this new one feels like their masterpiece.

Well done, Cast. Well done.

[jeffworman]

Nice, I had no idea they had a new one out. Their last album is one of the best of their career IMO.

I think you’re really going to like this one, Steve. It might be their best yet!

[miamiscot]

Is it just my CD, or does track 8 (The March) end VERY abruptly? I'm not sure if that's maybe for artistic effect, an accident, or just my copy. Probably not just my copy though...

I think that's an artistic choice as my copy does the same thing...

[TCC]

After about eight or nine spins I can honestly say that Vigesimus is an Album Of The Year contender. I only have the latest six Cast albums (from Originallis on) and although I really like Power & Outcome, this new one feels like their masterpiece.

Well done, Cast. Well done.

Well done ... yep!: definitely is going to be in my top 15; it's a great piece of music IMHO!.

[progmatist]

I think you’re really going to like this one, Steve. It might be their best yet!

Particularly the song Manley. It's very interesting, very complex, and shows how much Alfonso has grown as a composer.

[smcfee]

Yeah, I saw that and at least one other similar review. Seems it's sitting well with a lot of old Cast-heads. Sean McFee, have you listened to this yet?

Ordered it and two others from the band. I know I can listen to it anytime but I'm old school, so I'll wait til they arrive .

[JKL2000]

Ordered it and two others from the band. I know I can listen to it anytime but I'm old school, so I'll wait til they arrive .

The search for a copy of "A View of Cast" goes on. The struggle is real...

[mozo-pg]

I received The Power and Outcome CD from Mexico this week - 2 weeks shipping (not bad). I must say this is a very impressive and accomplished group of musicians. The musicianship is top notch and the vocals (not dominating the CD) are decent. The postage was really expensive but I don't think the band (bought from their website) is making any profit on shipping (it's just expensive to ship between Mexico and Canada). I like the violin and piano expecially but everyting is excellent and blends together seamlessly.

[mozo-pg]

Should I buy the new album?

[miamiscot]

Should I buy the new album?

Only if you like symphonic Prog with great hooks and boundless energy...

(It might be the best thing I've heard this year.)

[mozo-pg]

Only if you like symphonic Prog with great hooks and boundless energy...

(It might be the best thing I've heard this year.)

LOL - Definitely Yes.

[smcfee]

OK, so... blame Jed because he asked .

Compared to the 90s material, the vocalists are much more adept in English. But they are given awkward material to work with. Most of the early lyrics were from Alfonso or the two then-vocalists (Francisco Hernandez, Dino Brassea). Now they are all from Rene Vidales, and they often seem out-of-place, as if their potential use in songs was not considered when they were written, and the vocalists are just trying to make it work. Or perhaps he gave them coherent lyrics and they got transformed to fit the song lengths and music Alfonso wrote. I don't know how this sausage was made, just that it tastes funny to me.

Many tracks have a dominant word that you hear over and over, and while it may be poetic license, for me it's distracting. To illustrate the extent of the repetitiveness, "The March" repeats the word 'march' or 'marched' 35 times over 7.5 minutes. The final track is about half instrumental, but manages to work the word 'dredge' in 27 times. For "Black Ashes & Black Boxes" the magic word is 'ashes', for "The Unknown Wise Advice" it's 'power', and so on. Many tracks are quite lyrically dense, too -- it's the verbosity of Fish-era Marillion and the repetition of Magma. And often there is no journey or resolution in the songs; it's more like they repeat verse 1 and chorus 1 until the end. Maybe I just don't get it.

So if you have an album that is stronger musically than lyrically, you hope for a lot of instrumentals. There are three here, and a number of longer instrumental passages in some of the other tracks. Alfonso Vidales can still bring it, but for much of the album he sits back and lets orchestral arrangements take up the place where his keyboards used to be prominent. A lot of the other instrumentation is consistent with where I left off with them (Al-Bandaluz / Mosaique); there's now a violinist as a full member, and the guitar has picked up some prog-metallisms since the 90s, but it's recognizably Cast underneath the orchestral coating. That said, there aren't the kind of "money instrumentals" that Vidales brought to albums like Beyond Reality or Angels & Demons.

The album length is about 75 minutes, and I think it could have been wrapped up tidily in under an hour. Maybe well under.

So in all, pretty mixed feelings at this stage. I would take several of their albums from 1996 through 2003 over this one. I also picked up "Power and Outcome", which I'm a bit worried about now because it's the same lyricist, and "Vida", which is re-recordings of classic tracks, which will be useful for me since I no longer have "A View of Cast" .

(All this said, I am hoping I come around on this, because I like Cast and the album is dedicated to two longtime members... but right now it isn't working for me).

[SunRunner2]

OK, so... blame Jed because he asked .

Compared to the 90s material, the vocalists are much more adept in English. But they are given awkward material to work with. Most of the early lyrics were from Alfonso or the two then-vocalists (Francisco Hernandez, Dino Brassea). Now they are all from Rene Vidales, and they often seem out-of-place, as if their potential use in songs was not considered when they were written, and the vocalists are just trying to make it work. Or perhaps he gave them coherent lyrics and they got transformed to fit the song lengths and music Alfonso wrote. I don't know how this sausage was made, just that it tastes funny to me.

Many tracks have a dominant word that you hear over and over, and while it may be poetic license, for me it's distracting. To illustrate the extent of the repetitiveness, "The March" repeats the word 'march' or 'marched' 35 times over 7.5 minutes. The final track is about half instrumental, but manages to work the word 'dredge' in 27 times. For "Black Ashes & Black Boxes" the magic word is 'ashes', for "The Unknown Wise Advice" it's 'power', and so on. Many tracks are quite lyrically dense, too -- it's the verbosity of Fish-era Marillion and the repetition of Magma. And often there is no journey or resolution in the songs; it's more like they repeat verse 1 and chorus 1 until the end. Maybe I just don't get it.

So if you have an album that is stronger musically than lyrically, you hope for a lot of instrumentals. There are three here, and a number of longer instrumental passages in some of the other tracks. Alfonso Vidales can still bring it, but for much of the album he sits back and lets orchestral arrangements take up the place where his keyboards used to be prominent. A lot of the other instrumentation is consistent with where I left off with them (Al-Bandaluz / Mosaique); there's now a violinist as a full member, and the guitar has picked up some prog-metallisms since the 90s, but it's recognizably Cast underneath the orchestral coating. That said, there aren't the kind of "money instrumentals" that Vidales brought to albums like Beyond Reality or Angels & Demons.

The album length is about 75 minutes, and I think it could have been wrapped up tidily in under an hour. Maybe well under.
.

Man, talk about picayune criticisms. I bet you'd complain if you were hung with a new rope.

[smcfee]

LOL. Well I'm sorry you felt the need to lash out over it.

[aith01]

For whatever reason, the vocals and lyrics with recent Cast has never bothered me. Part of the charm I guess. I love almost everything they've done since 2003 onward.

I did like when they sang in Spanish on Com.Union though, that was pretty cool.

[JKL2000]

OK, so... blame Jed because he asked .

Compared to the 90s material, the vocalists are much more adept in English. But they are given awkward material to work with. Most of the early lyrics were from Alfonso or the two then-vocalists (Francisco Hernandez, Dino Brassea). Now they are all from Rene Vidales, and they often seem out-of-place, as if their potential use in songs was not considered when they were written, and the vocalists are just trying to make it work. Or perhaps he gave them coherent lyrics and they got transformed to fit the song lengths and music Alfonso wrote. I don't know how this sausage was made, just that it tastes funny to me.

Many tracks have a dominant word that you hear over and over, and while it may be poetic license, for me it's distracting. To illustrate the extent of the repetitiveness, "The March" repeats the word 'march' or 'marched' 35 times over 7.5 minutes. The final track is about half instrumental, but manages to work the word 'dredge' in 27 times. For "Black Ashes & Black Boxes" the magic word is 'ashes', for "The Unknown Wise Advice" it's 'power', and so on. Many tracks are quite lyrically dense, too -- it's the verbosity of Fish-era Marillion and the repetition of Magma. And often there is no journey or resolution in the songs; it's more like they repeat verse 1 and chorus 1 until the end. Maybe I just don't get it.

So if you have an album that is stronger musically than lyrically, you hope for a lot of instrumentals. There are three here, and a number of longer instrumental passages in some of the other tracks. Alfonso Vidales can still bring it, but for much of the album he sits back and lets orchestral arrangements take up the place where his keyboards used to be prominent. A lot of the other instrumentation is consistent with where I left off with them (Al-Bandaluz / Mosaique); there's now a violinist as a full member, and the guitar has picked up some prog-metallisms since the 90s, but it's recognizably Cast underneath the orchestral coating. That said, there aren't the kind of "money instrumentals" that Vidales brought to albums like Beyond Reality or Angels & Demons.

The album length is about 75 minutes, and I think it could have been wrapped up tidily in under an hour. Maybe well under.

So in all, pretty mixed feelings at this stage. I would take several of their albums from 1996 through 2003 over this one. I also picked up "Power and Outcome", which I'm a bit worried about now because it's the same lyricist, and "Vida", which is re-recordings of classic tracks, which will be useful for me since I no longer have "A View of Cast" .

(All this said, I am hoping I come around on this, because I like Cast and the album is dedicated to two longtime members... but right now it isn't working for me).

Still the "Original Irish Bastard!" TM

[progmatist]

OK, so... blame Jed because he asked .

Compared to the 90s material, the vocalists are much more adept in English. But they are given awkward material to work with. Most of the early lyrics were from Alfonso or the two then-vocalists (Francisco Hernandez, Dino Brassea). Now they are all from Rene Vidales, and they often seem out-of-place, as if their potential use in songs was not considered when they were written, and the vocalists are just trying to make it work. Or perhaps he gave them coherent lyrics and they got transformed to fit the song lengths and music Alfonso wrote. I don't know how this sausage was made, just that it tastes funny to me.

Many tracks have a dominant word that you hear over and over, and while it may be poetic license, for me it's distracting. To illustrate the extent of the repetitiveness, "The March" repeats the word 'march' or 'marched' 35 times over 7.5 minutes. The final track is about half instrumental, but manages to work the word 'dredge' in 27 times. For "Black Ashes & Black Boxes" the magic word is 'ashes', for "The Unknown Wise Advice" it's 'power', and so on. Many tracks are quite lyrically dense, too -- it's the verbosity of Fish-era Marillion and the repetition of Magma. And often there is no journey or resolution in the songs; it's more like they repeat verse 1 and chorus 1 until the end. Maybe I just don't get it.

So if you have an album that is stronger musically than lyrically, you hope for a lot of instrumentals. There are three here, and a number of longer instrumental passages in some of the other tracks. Alfonso Vidales can still bring it, but for much of the album he sits back and lets orchestral arrangements take up the place where his keyboards used to be prominent. A lot of the other instrumentation is consistent with where I left off with them (Al-Bandaluz / Mosaique); there's now a violinist as a full member, and the guitar has picked up some prog-metallisms since the 90s, but it's recognizably Cast underneath the orchestral coating. That said, there aren't the kind of "money instrumentals" that Vidales brought to albums like Beyond Reality or Angels & Demons.

The album length is about 75 minutes, and I think it could have been wrapped up tidily in under an hour. Maybe well under.

So in all, pretty mixed feelings at this stage. I would take several of their albums from 1996 through 2003 over this one. I also picked up "Power and Outcome", which I'm a bit worried about now because it's the same lyricist, and "Vida", which is re-recordings of classic tracks, which will be useful for me since I no longer have "A View of Cast" .

(All this said, I am hoping I come around on this, because I like Cast and the album is dedicated to two longtime members... but right now it isn't working for me).

That primarily has to do with English being their second language. I suspect if I tried writing in Spanish, my lyrics would be equally inane. Bottom line: I never cared about lyrical content in prog. They can repeat Mary Had a Little Lamb for all I care.

[moecurlythanu]

They can repeat Mary Had a Little Lamb for all I care.

Well, it would make more sense than Jon Anderson's lyrics in the 70s.

[SunRunner2]

Well, it would make more sense than Jon Anderson's lyrics in the 70s.

Whoa, wait a gosh darn minute and not so fast there! Are you calling lyrics like this from "Topographic Oceans" nonsensical???

"Craving penetrations offer links with the self instructor's sharp
And tender love as we took to the air, a picture of distance
Dawn of our power we amuse redescending as fast as misused
Expression, as only to teach love as to reveal passion chasing
Late into corners, and we danced from the ocean
Dawn of love sent within us colours of awakening among the many
Won't to follow, only tunes of a different age, as the links span"