MAYA 29 - The Fifth Sun (Demo Versions) CD
Maya 29 do not conform to the norm – a band with a female lead singer, they have created a debut album that has tracks short and long, that are thematically and lyrically linked throughout the album and is essentially what you'd have called back in the seventies, a “concept album” - all the right ingredients to be labelled “prog rock”. Which it is – but before you start to conjure images of yesterday's dinosaurs, let me tell you that this is contemporary, it's beautifully crafted, it's varied, consistent and there's not a keyboard in sight.
The album opens with the six minute “The Heart Of The One World” which features more time changes and twists and turns in the space of its running length than you'd get on a Yes triple album. Beginning with softly chanted, full-sounding wordess female vocals above slowly thundering drumming and edgy percussion, the drone of guitar wells up from below as the vocal slowly rises with a decidedly native feel. Then all of a sudden this lead guitar figure scythes through as the drums and bass stride out and the vocals soar and flow, still chanting, now floating and flying on waves of wordless beauty. The rhythms stutter and drive, the guitars shimmer and jangle, the multi-tracked harmonies deliciously full and solid as the whole thing coalesces with upfront bass, searing guitar restraint and dramatic drumming as the vocals take on words, the mood deepens and the guitar works shines before breaking out into a classic slice of seventies prog-rock guitar lead only for it all to drop back to the shimmering guitar leads as the warm sounding vocals flow above the rhythmic and melodic expanse – all in all, one glorious opening statement. “Ten Thousand Skies” is the first song proper as singer Karen Bradford soars above lurching rhythms and shining guitars, that huge-sounding warm, emotive vocal delivering the song with style and grace, as the arrangements twist and turn but maintain a melodic path to your heart. Another guitar break takes the high-register road before dropping back to surging riffing as the song returns and the band surge towards a sea of solid bliss, via a solitary lead vocal part that is as simple as it is contrasting, before the song takes one final dramatic drive to its finish. The near five minute “New Fire” continues the thematic and emotively melodic feel with ringing guitar rhythms, a fast surge of lead guitar and tight mid-paced rhythms as the vocal chants return and the song swings back and forth from the upward surge of the heady vocal-led verse-as-chorus and the ringing guitar-led instrumental work. The song itself features both lyrics and the chanting as the arrangement twists and turns through moments of softness backed by solid musicianship to lift-off choruses where the guitar entwines itself around the vocal and the rhythm section takes off.
The six minute “ Red And Black – Part 1 – Otlatoca” begins what can be viewed as a single 20 minute track split into four parts, taking off where the prog-rock epic left but instead of trying to rcreate former glories, this band takes its own unique style of the genre into a world where the vocals entrance and enrapture, dramatic multi-layered singing sitting alongside slowly flowing solitary lead vocal, as all around the guitar shimmers and sings, waiting for the rhythm section to change from sensitive backing to strong and streaming rhythmic monster, all the while the song and its arrangement never overblown, overbearing or overstated, instead at its heart melody, emotion, strength and purpose, all wrapped in a vibrant sea of guitar-driven might, the wondrous vocal choruses rising up from the softer verses like a phoenix from the ashes. This is followed by the five minute “Red And Black Part 2 – The Journey Of Gods” which naturally and thematically follows on from the former track with a more urgent sounding vocal intensity, still gorgeous, and the guitars more riffing than ringing, the rhythm section diving forward with conviction as the song bursts forth, those huge-sounding, sultry, female vocals leading the verses and towering over the multi-tracked choruses. Again, the picture changes through lurching sections, sections of surging guitars and vocal warmth and a painting in sound that's as strong as it is compulsive listening. The five and a half minute “The Castilian” drops the intensity slightly to reveal what you'd call a classic slice of prog-rock songwriting where beauty lies next to strength and the heart of the band comes shining through on a slowly flowing song where the vocal, lead and multi-tracked, takes centre stage throughout, wrapping its warm tendrils around your heart to perfection on a seriously emotively delivered song of subtle strength and searing heat wonder, even featuring a scorching guitar break that's right out of the prog-rock songbook, the most “old skool” sounding track on the album, but fitting right in with the concept and the style, and just one gem of a song. The “epic” ends with the near four minute “Red & Black Part 3 – Of Roads And Days” as solid, stuttering rhythms crash below a strong vocal lead as it all drops back to more jangly guitars, rhythmic undercurrents before burts of rifle-fire rhythms from the whole band herald an even more urgent lead vocal from Ms Bradford as the mood changes between the two sorts of arrangement with passion, grace and firepower. To put the icing on the cake, the album ends with the near ten minute title track, this time throwing everything they've stood (out) for on the album so far, into one vast melting pot of storming songwriting, instrumental arrangements with more twists and turns than Hampton Court Maze and a “magnum opus” that would be proud to have stood as the centrepiece on any “Classic” genre band's album, yet here sounding remarkably vibrant, contemporary and massive, as the combination of the soaring and delicate vocals vie with jangly and surging guitars, deep and muscular bass, crunching and subtle drumming, to produce a track which justifies every second of its length.
All in all, one absolutely magical album – the “real thing” could be immense!!