Por lapso meu, ou quem sabe se por alguma questão psicológica que está longe da minha compreensão, ainda não coloquei neste espaço o único feedback que dá um lugar na história do rock progressivo à banda na qual tive o prazer de participar durante alguns anos.
Hoje, um mail que recebi fez-me acordar para esta realidade. Eu ainda não comentei o comentário. Nem é preciso. Não o farei até porque ele reflecte toda a verdade que há para ser dita sobre o trabalho em causa. Contudo tenho de agradecer publicamente a quem teve a amabilidade de o fazer, sabendo de antemão que o fez com toda a verdade e sinceridade.
Creio que posso agradecer em nome de todos os que participaram nesse projecto.
O texto diz então o seguinte:
"When a person starts to really dive deep in the meadows of his own country progressive fields, chances are that sooner or later he starts to come across the outmost hidden and rare (well kept secrets) works of progressive rock.
Gray-Out were not more than a group of friends exploring one of the most mind-filling, dream-chaser, fantastic odyssey there is: Music!
While not exactly knowing what style, what tag or what category people would put them into, the musicians were simply constructing sonic voyages of their musical ideas, without strings attached and without imposing any barrier to those ideas. They called themselves Gray-Out and self released, almost for in-house consumption, a raw and very personal album entitled Miséria Humana (Human Misery). This happened in 1997, and right after the group disbanded (for many reasons, as we all know life always reserves us sudden changes of all kinds). Some of its members decided then to form a new band, that has been slowly and securely constructing a name for themselves - Dispatch Note.
Miséria Humana is an album that, while totally non-professional, rough edged and ill produced, still shows one or two simple characteristics that make it surpass all its flaws and become a real gem of an album: it has a soul like few have, and it shows a band exploring great ideas, mixing modern alternative rock with experimentation (avant-garde), symphonic layers entwined with good guitar parts that many times seem inspired by Pink Floyd. The PF and avant-garde experimentations come accompanied by influences from Portuguese rockers Radio Macau and perhaps Sétima Legião and then some (probably non-intentional) more atmospheric domains à lá Francis, but the mix that was achieved here makes Gray-Out a really original band in the late 90’s Portuguese panorama. With the right production and more worked out and experienced female vocals, and taking out one or two lesser tracks, this album could really be a landmark!!
Eclipse Solar is without a doubt the better achieved track in the album, with its symphonic and avant-garde musicality. A 12+ minute quest for identity in a fresh and innovative capsule. This tendency is kept in the instrumental As Sombras but then totally dismissed in the lesser Assim, sem mais, which in my opinion is one of those tracks that can make you forget how good the album was so far…
In Onde vão? is where the band comes closer to Radio Macau, a fast rock track that sequences the attitude adopted for the previous track but here with much more success. While not progressive, this is an interesting rock track clearly inspired by a very recognizable fringe of the 90’s Portuguese mainstream rock.
The rock instrumental Retalhos da Miséria Humana is, again, a more inspired track, letting the band explore some semi-progressive (most of it in a more hard tone but including a slower, more harmonic mid section) patterns, and it includes some excellent melodic guitar lines.
The small Rio Adormecido is a not so memorable track with a good Sax solo, that enriches the music by providing it with some extra colors. Ah, the vocals here are some of the best in the album.
Another instrumental follows, in the same vein as tracks 3 and 6, in which the keys take some more prominent role accompanied by thoughtful guitar lines in the background.
Almas Encarceradas is a laid back track that starts very well, with another great Sax solo. When the vocals start, the good atmosphere that had been created is a bit lost, but still this is one of the most interesting tracks in the album.
The main course of the bands musicality, instrumentally wise, is again shown in the shorter Eclipse Final where the band again explores the style adopted before, in track 3, 6 and 8.
Unknown Song is a lovely instrumental that is spoiled by the completely out-of-tune vocals. Bettering the sung part here would not only save the music, but would also make it one of the most achieved ones in the album.
Finally, Orgia brings the band back to some more experimental, and therefore progressive, fields. The use of dissonances and atonal guitar lines on top of a symphonic keyboard texture and a well sequenced rhythm line does make this track into a great closer act for the album.
Should this album contain more tracks oriented by the philosophy shown in Orgia, Eclipse Solar and Retalhos da Miséria Humana and it would easily be one of the greatest Portuguese Prog albums from the 90’s. As it is, is still a great discovery, but one punctuated by major flops in the company of major wins!
And overall, this album shows a young, non-professional group of friends exploring, mainly for the fun of it, their idealistic musical concept. It is a real joy to discover, and it has some very good moments while also punctuated with some that are not good at all and that could well be dismissed if the album is someday to be re-released with better production. In the end, I am fully satisfied and honored to have been given the possibility of listening to it, thanks to Paulo Mouta (bass) who kindly send me a copy. "
Pode ser encontrado em: http://www.proggnosis.com/MUSIC_DBCDInfo.asp?txtCDID=23177
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