Even with the advent of the enigmatic Hugo Chavez, not everything coming out of Venezuela is bad. At least on this one occasion, some very interesting progressive rock music has emanated from across the Caribbean – the formerly friendly confines of Venezuela

There's a reason that Tempano’s, Agony and the Ecstasy, has tended to garner solid five star reviews. The reason is simple, it is a solid five star album.

I bought The Agony and the Ecstasy on a lark. I had never heard a note by Tempano but the reviews sounded good, so I put them on my wish list, where it must have sat for a good year or so. It finally made it from my wish list to my cart, when after the last Xmas I received a large gift certificate from my daughter. When placing my order, I ran out of items I wanted but I didn’t want to leave a credit balance.

When I received The Agony and the Ecstasy I played it on my computer while I was doing some typing upon it. I didn’t expect much, but it didn’t take long before I was paying more attention to Tempano’s music then my typing. Within an hour I had pulled up Tempano on a website and ordered their other two available releases.

What kind of music does Tempano play? Though, they are from Venezuela, there seems to be very little Latin influences. I noticed a little in only one song, Il Duomo and it is fabulous. The Agony and the Ecstasy contains fifteen highly varied songs running from 56 seconds to ten minutes. Overall the album is sixty-five plus minutes. There are some vocals but the album is more instrumental. The songs range from symphonic prog rock, to movie score sounding contemporary music, to something just short of jazz, while the tempos run the gamut from easy going to medium fast, yet everything they play is smooth … smooth as Venezuelan Oil.

1. Twisted Mind
2. Bonfire
3. Just In A Second
4. Gigante
5. Pieta
6. Timeless Time
7. Attimo Infinito
8. Intermezzo
9. La Porta De Santo Spirito
10. Giudizio Universale
11. Il Duomo
12. Final Agony
13. All Ages Tears
14. Imaginary Sky
15. Conspiracion

Conclusion

I really believe that if you like progressive rock music, this album specifically and Tempano in general, is for you. The variety of the music is really astounding, as is the variety of instruments. Now, I’m no musician but even I can appreciate unusual instruments being used. Look for bongos, xylophones, flutes, trumpets, sound effects and various synthesized instruments. In a nutshell this is one of the most diversified and original bands I’ve heard in a while.

Similar Bands: Iluvatar, Clepsydra, Riverside, Tangent

Author Note: My thanks to Lambchops for adding this album.


Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Reading or Studying