Aisles

Not too many prog fans and collectors have paid much attention to Chilean group Aisles' sophomore release "In Sudden Walks" throughout last year: actually, this may have been one of the 5 most accomplished neo-prog albums of 2009. Shame on us all! "In Sudden Walks" is a lovely collection of inventive compositions and bold arrangements. As impressed as I had been a few years back with their debut "The Yearning", I found it as a half-baked effort overall that didn't manage to fulfill its evidently abundant potential. All in all, a few good things were clear about the band from that debut album: they were inspired writers and they were keen on preparing bold arrangements that made the musicality prevail over the need for pyrotechnics. With a generally suave sonority, the band could sound as majestic as many other louder bands in the symphonic and neo-prog territories. Well, "In Sudden Walks" bears more stamina, equal richness of musicality and a more refined performance level ? the latter factor is in small degree due to the fact that Aisles now comprises real drums and a permanent bass player, that is, a rhythm duo that can work on its own within the global sonic architecture. The opener is 'Mariachi', a sophisticated instrumental that almost clocks at 10 minutes. Without lyrics, the vocal parts are excerpts of sexy dialogues between the male and female characters from a movie. In this way, the whole idea sets out to bear a cinematographic mood to it while remaining a genuine musical item in its own terms. Right from the start, the dynamics shows an undeniable appeal. If you notice some peculiarity about it, that is due to the powerful inclusion of Latin-fusion undertones through the instrumental development. Symphonic neo combined with Latin cadences? This equation works, believe me. Once the slow interlude emerges and settles in, the guest trumpeter adds a extra colorfulness to the ceremonious atmosphere: there is also a guest on contrabass adding occasional nuances to the rhythmic scheme. Eerie passages are predominant until we get to the 7 ¾ minute mark, which is when the initial extroverted ambiance is solidly retaken. After this impressive opener, 'Revolution Of Light' shows the band going for the standard of moderately complex catchiness that the most impressive neo songs usually go for: shaded of early 90s Marillion and late-80s Pallas can be traced here, but the time signatures are more demanding (in spite of seeming an almost danceable rocker). 'Summer Fall' partially aims at preserving the agile mood that dominated the extroverted preceding track, but now, in a more ambitious framework, it gives more room to elaborated landscapes of nostalgia and reflection. The now dominant soft passages are patently gentle, making it easy to link the motif shifts through fluid, well-constructed transitions. As soon as the opening motif returns (at the 5 ¾ minute mark), the track's architecture concentrates on extroversion and color, including an elegant climax that ends at the 8 minute mark. The last 115 seconds are based on a pastoral descent that bears Camel inspirations. 'The Maiden' is a different beast, something more akin to late-70s Oldfield, classic Anthony Phillips and Renaissance. For this piece, the band leaves the neo-prog standard behind in favor of a more focused vintage symphonic sound where the bucolic environment is dominant. There is also a reasonable utilization of Latin nuances for good effect, making the lovely melodic motifs enhance their natural warmth. Even in those occasions when things are spiced up, the track retains its romantic magic in intact form. With its sharp 4 minute span, the eerie 'Smile Of Tears' is the shortest piece in the album. The featured presence of digital cosmic textures in its main theme openly states a contrast against the preceding song. The piano coda is just lovely. The shortest song is succeeded by the longest one, the 15? minute long epic 'Hawaii'. Right from the start, the ceremonious overtones prevail with a certain mysterious mood. Mixing the cosmic spirit of the preceding track with a powerful melancholic aura, the piece delivers a long-term sense of calm majesty where neo-prog, old-fashioned symphonic and new-age unite. Later on, after the halfway, the track sets a crafty variation, even intensifying the sonic atmosphere a bit for a while. The dual guitars' textures are lovely, and so are the synth lines and harmonic developments that softly go on until the fade-out ends. Like I said earlier in this review, shame on us all who overlooked this beautiful album during 2009: now, our redemption can be assured by purchasing this album and enjoying its plenty of musical qualities. Aisles can be safely regarded as a totally matured band. - Cesar Inca - ProgArchives

Not too many prog fans and collectors have paid much attention to Chilean group Aisles' sophomore release "In Sudden Walks" throughout last year: actually, this may have been one of the 5 most accomplished neo-prog albums of 2009. Shame on us all! "In Sudden Walks" is a lovely collection of inventive compositions and bold arrangements. As impressed as I had been a few years back with their debut "The Yearning", I found it as a half-baked effort overall that didn't manage to fulfill its evidently abundant potential. All in all, a few good things were clear about the band from that debut album: they were inspired writers and they were keen on preparing bold arrangements that made the musicality prevail over the need for pyrotechnics. With a generally suave sonority, the band could sound as majestic as many other louder bands in the symphonic and neo-prog territories. Well, "In Sudden Walks" bears more stamina, equal richness of musicality and a more refined performance level ? the latter factor is in small degree due to the fact that Aisles now comprises real drums and a permanent bass player, that is, a rhythm duo that can work on its own within the global sonic architecture. The opener is 'Mariachi', a sophisticated instrumental that almost clocks at 10 minutes. Without lyrics, the vocal parts are excerpts of sexy dialogues between the male and female characters from a movie. In this way, the whole idea sets out to bear a cinematographic mood to it while remaining a genuine musical item in its own terms. Right from the start, the dynamics shows an undeniable appeal. If you notice some peculiarity about it, that is due to the powerful inclusion of Latin-fusion undertones through the instrumental development. Symphonic neo combined with Latin cadences? This equation works, believe me. Once the slow interlude emerges and settles in, the guest trumpeter adds a extra colorfulness to the ceremonious atmosphere: there is also a guest on contrabass adding occasional nuances to the rhythmic scheme. Eerie passages are predominant until we get to the 7 ¾ minute mark, which is when the initial extroverted ambiance is solidly retaken. After this impressive opener, 'Revolution Of Light' shows the band going for the standard of moderately complex catchiness that the most impressive neo songs usually go for: shaded of early 90s Marillion and late-80s Pallas can be traced here, but the time signatures are more demanding (in spite of seeming an almost danceable rocker). 'Summer Fall' partially aims at preserving the agile mood that dominated the extroverted preceding track, but now, in a more ambitious framework, it gives more room to elaborated landscapes of nostalgia and reflection. The now dominant soft passages are patently gentle, making it easy to link the motif shifts through fluid, well-constructed transitions. As soon as the opening motif returns (at the 5 ¾ minute mark), the track's architecture concentrates on extroversion and color, including an elegant climax that ends at the 8 minute mark. The last 115 seconds are based on a pastoral descent that bears Camel inspirations. 'The Maiden' is a different beast, something more akin to late-70s Oldfield, classic Anthony Phillips and Renaissance. For this piece, the band leaves the neo-prog standard behind in favor of a more focused vintage symphonic sound where the bucolic environment is dominant. There is also a reasonable utilization of Latin nuances for good effect, making the lovely melodic motifs enhance their natural warmth. Even in those occasions when things are spiced up, the track retains its romantic magic in intact form. With its sharp 4 minute span, the eerie 'Smile Of Tears' is the shortest piece in the album. The featured presence of digital cosmic textures in its main theme openly states a contrast against the preceding song. The piano coda is just lovely. The shortest song is succeeded by the longest one, the 15? minute long epic 'Hawaii'. Right from the start, the ceremonious overtones prevail with a certain mysterious mood. Mixing the cosmic spirit of the preceding track with a powerful melancholic aura, the piece delivers a long-term sense of calm majesty where neo-prog, old-fashioned symphonic and new-age unite. Later on, after the halfway, the track sets a crafty variation, even intensifying the sonic atmosphere a bit for a while. The dual guitars' textures are lovely, and so are the synth lines and harmonic developments that softly go on until the fade-out ends. Like I said earlier in this review, shame on us all who overlooked this beautiful album during 2009: now, our redemption can be assured by purchasing this album and enjoying its plenty of musical qualities. Aisles can be safely regarded as a totally matured band. - Cesar Inca - ProgArchives

Les Chiliens ont créé la surprise dans le monde du néo-progressif en 2005, avec un premier album publié chez Mylodon Records et leur prestation au festival Crescendo cette année. Devenu un groupe à part entière depuis l’arrivée d’un bassiste et d’un batteur, Aisles se sent pousser des ailes et triomphe de l’encombrant fardeau d’être chacun musicien multi-tâche. Ce sont donc sept musiciens qui composent désormais la formation, une véritable armada qui présente aujourd'hui un résultat bluffant, confirmant les espoirs placés en eux depuis The Yearning.

Toujours teintée de sonorités progressives des années quatre-vingt, leur musique emprunte aussi bien les ambiances hypnotiques et éthérées de Pink Floyd que les mélodies de Dream Theater. Tellement bien que les morceaux longs, quinze minutes pour « Hawaii » par exemple, manquent cruellement d'un décollage en puissance et en énergie. Les différents protagonistes esquissent toutefois un environnement riche en harmonies en fusionnant celles venant du jazz modal, des grooves latins ou bien du rock progressif épique des premiers Genesis. Les riffs sont classes et la voix chantée en anglais n'a rien à envier aux Anglo-Saxons.

Malgré un manque de pêche évident, In Sudden Walks parvient à proposer un disque agréable de par sa facette colorée et vivante, aux intonations latines élégamment discrètes et une réelle motivation de musiciens qui prouvent à la vieille Europe, centre culturel du progressif par excellence, que l'Amérique du Sud a encore et toujours du talent à revendre. - Aleksandr Lézy - Progressia

Les Chiliens ont créé la surprise dans le monde du néo-progressif en 2005, avec un premier album publié chez Mylodon Records et leur prestation au festival Crescendo cette année. Devenu un groupe à part entière depuis l’arrivée d’un bassiste et d’un batteur, Aisles se sent pousser des ailes et triomphe de l’encombrant fardeau d’être chacun musicien multi-tâche. Ce sont donc sept musiciens qui composent désormais la formation, une véritable armada qui présente aujourd'hui un résultat bluffant, confirmant les espoirs placés en eux depuis The Yearning.

Toujours teintée de sonorités progressives des années quatre-vingt, leur musique emprunte aussi bien les ambiances hypnotiques et éthérées de Pink Floyd que les mélodies de Dream Theater. Tellement bien que les morceaux longs, quinze minutes pour « Hawaii » par exemple, manquent cruellement d'un décollage en puissance et en énergie. Les différents protagonistes esquissent toutefois un environnement riche en harmonies en fusionnant celles venant du jazz modal, des grooves latins ou bien du rock progressif épique des premiers Genesis. Les riffs sont classes et la voix chantée en anglais n'a rien à envier aux Anglo-Saxons.

Malgré un manque de pêche évident, In Sudden Walks parvient à proposer un disque agréable de par sa facette colorée et vivante, aux intonations latines élégamment discrètes et une réelle motivation de musiciens qui prouvent à la vieille Europe, centre culturel du progressif par excellence, que l'Amérique du Sud a encore et toujours du talent à revendre. - Aleksandr Lézy - Progressia

A prog band from Chile ? That's one thing I didn't expect to meet on the way through the vast jungle and myriads of prog bands and their native country´s !! I must say that this is a surprise in more than one way, other than the aforementioned I am also pleasantly surprised regarding the music that Aisles deliver!! How could I not know this band? An old prog geezer like me ?! Anyway now they are here, in form of the 2 cd albums I received from Vergara (Aisles guitarist). This is their latest and what an album it is! "Mariachi" opens with a great guitar thematic tune, spoken word/dialogue male/female in Spanish/Portugese (I do not understand a word) but unlike the Polish bands earlier reviewed, Spanish has a way of sounding erotic or poetic! Suddenly the tune has an almost quiet mid sequence (Trumpet/guitar soli) and a return to the dialogue, before returning to high powered complex thematic, great track !!

"Revolution of Light" with splendid vocal choir and up tempo music sequences with English vocals (no accent!) the music really is very complex more to the art rock than prog, but its great, reminding this reviewer of City Boy; Charlie and sometime 10 cc (That's a compliment!) again superb music! "Summer fall" develops as a tight art rock tune, great composition with laid back vocals and electric/acoustic guitar base, very smooth very beautiful, followed by a staccato tense guitar/band theme...superb vocals and choir!!

This is SO English in sound and delivery, amazing stuff!! I really love this band, being a progfan but also I have a soft spot for brilliant art rock, which these guys deliver in spades...WOW what a band, what an album ;-) the complexity of the tunes, the brilliant arrangement, the delivery of their talent, this is awesome music!! Fellow reviewers have comments on this or that derivative tendence, who cares?! This is brilliant and lovely music.

"The Maiden" opens beautifully, cinematic and very pop-art, bordering art rock in world class !! I don't really can compare this bands sound to anyone, one moment they sound like Alan Parsons Project, next moment they sound like Camel, then again they have really their own sound!!

So not really that progressive, but art rock big time!! This is really amazing art-rock music top class! This album holds NO filler, this album is filled with excellent songs and music!! I am so happy, so fulfilled, I smiled all the way through this album in sheer joy!! I love this kind of music and AISLES are my new love into the realm of art rock ;-) !!

If you are into art-rock like: 10 cc/ Charlie/ City Boy/ Alan Parsons...then this is a MUST own!!

Even if the above doesn't sit right with you, give these brilliant musicians a spin, you wont regret it, promise!! - Tony Larsen - ProgPlanet

A prog band from Chile ? That's one thing I didn't expect to meet on the way through the vast jungle and myriads of prog bands and their native country´s !! I must say that this is a surprise in more than one way, other than the aforementioned I am also pleasantly surprised regarding the music that Aisles deliver!! How could I not know this band? An old prog geezer like me ?! Anyway now they are here, in form of the 2 cd albums I received from Vergara (Aisles guitarist). This is their latest and what an album it is! "Mariachi" opens with a great guitar thematic tune, spoken word/dialogue male/female in Spanish/Portugese (I do not understand a word) but unlike the Polish bands earlier reviewed, Spanish has a way of sounding erotic or poetic! Suddenly the tune has an almost quiet mid sequence (Trumpet/guitar soli) and a return to the dialogue, before returning to high powered complex thematic, great track !!

"Revolution of Light" with splendid vocal choir and up tempo music sequences with English vocals (no accent!) the music really is very complex more to the art rock than prog, but its great, reminding this reviewer of City Boy; Charlie and sometime 10 cc (That's a compliment!) again superb music! "Summer fall" develops as a tight art rock tune, great composition with laid back vocals and electric/acoustic guitar base, very smooth very beautiful, followed by a staccato tense guitar/band theme...superb vocals and choir!!

This is SO English in sound and delivery, amazing stuff!! I really love this band, being a progfan but also I have a soft spot for brilliant art rock, which these guys deliver in spades...WOW what a band, what an album ;-) the complexity of the tunes, the brilliant arrangement, the delivery of their talent, this is awesome music!! Fellow reviewers have comments on this or that derivative tendence, who cares?! This is brilliant and lovely music.

"The Maiden" opens beautifully, cinematic and very pop-art, bordering art rock in world class !! I don't really can compare this bands sound to anyone, one moment they sound like Alan Parsons Project, next moment they sound like Camel, then again they have really their own sound!!

So not really that progressive, but art rock big time!! This is really amazing art-rock music top class! This album holds NO filler, this album is filled with excellent songs and music!! I am so happy, so fulfilled, I smiled all the way through this album in sheer joy!! I love this kind of music and AISLES are my new love into the realm of art rock ;-) !!

If you are into art-rock like: 10 cc/ Charlie/ City Boy/ Alan Parsons...then this is a MUST own!!

Even if the above doesn't sit right with you, give these brilliant musicians a spin, you wont regret it, promise!! - Tony Larsen - ProgPlanet

Chilean band Aisles returns as a full band in 2009 with In Sudden Walks. This time around there’s more modern sounds and the production is almost flawless. There’s some Latin vibes mixed in with the symphonic side of prog. I wouldn’t classify this as a neo-prog band because there’s just so much more going on to limit to that label.



Opening up the album is “Mariachi” (10:01) and aside from the spoken word parts is a flawless song. This would have been better placed later on in the album, maybe even as the ending track. In many ways it really would be a great way to end off this album.



“Revolution Of Light” (4:42) makes me recall the Menel-era IQ again. It has “single” written all over it, well in a perfect world it would be.



“Summer Fall” (9:56) reminds me of the what can be expected from the Mexican prog band Cast. It has a pretty damn cool reoccurring theme that pops up in various parts of the song. This is also one of my favorites of this album and in my opinion, would have been a much better opening track for this album. There’s also some moments in the harmony vocals that remind me of IQ.



“The Maiden” (9:29), at the beginning it reminds me a lot of Genesis around the A Trick Of The Tail album, especially “Ripples” or “Mad Man Moon”. Then around the 3 minute mark it changes gears to an acoustic/electric mode with some fait Latin percussion. This is another favorite of mine from this album. It’s also the song that best represents the album.



“Smile Of Tears”(3:59) is the shortest track on the album and has a very symphonic electronic feel to it. Very much a keyboard driven track.



Ending off the album is the epic, Hawaii (15:00), which is very atmospheric throughout. It’s also not a typical epic, it’s more a collection of soundscapes and very close to the output of Gazpacho.



I feel In Sudden Walks is the next step in the evolution of Aisles and one of the better releases of 2009. I just hope the band won’t take as much time to release another album. I have a feeling the next album will break the band big. This is highly recommended for fans of modern symphonic progressive rock. - Ron Fuchs - ProgNaut

Chilean band Aisles returns as a full band in 2009 with In Sudden Walks. This time around there’s more modern sounds and the production is almost flawless. There’s some Latin vibes mixed in with the symphonic side of prog. I wouldn’t classify this as a neo-prog band because there’s just so much more going on to limit to that label.



Opening up the album is “Mariachi” (10:01) and aside from the spoken word parts is a flawless song. This would have been better placed later on in the album, maybe even as the ending track. In many ways it really would be a great way to end off this album.



“Revolution Of Light” (4:42) makes me recall the Menel-era IQ again. It has “single” written all over it, well in a perfect world it would be.



“Summer Fall” (9:56) reminds me of the what can be expected from the Mexican prog band Cast. It has a pretty damn cool reoccurring theme that pops up in various parts of the song. This is also one of my favorites of this album and in my opinion, would have been a much better opening track for this album. There’s also some moments in the harmony vocals that remind me of IQ.



“The Maiden” (9:29), at the beginning it reminds me a lot of Genesis around the A Trick Of The Tail album, especially “Ripples” or “Mad Man Moon”. Then around the 3 minute mark it changes gears to an acoustic/electric mode with some fait Latin percussion. This is another favorite of mine from this album. It’s also the song that best represents the album.



“Smile Of Tears”(3:59) is the shortest track on the album and has a very symphonic electronic feel to it. Very much a keyboard driven track.



Ending off the album is the epic, Hawaii (15:00), which is very atmospheric throughout. It’s also not a typical epic, it’s more a collection of soundscapes and very close to the output of Gazpacho.



I feel In Sudden Walks is the next step in the evolution of Aisles and one of the better releases of 2009. I just hope the band won’t take as much time to release another album. I have a feeling the next album will break the band big. This is highly recommended for fans of modern symphonic progressive rock. - Ron Fuchs - ProgNaut

Seems like a rather mundane name for a band, but the 2005 debut of this Chilean symphonic prog band is anything but. This is a young band with two keyboardists, two guitarists, and a singer who also plays flute. Three of them are brothers. Their music is clearly connected to 1970’s progressive rock, but they are not at all retro. They are highly original and yet somehow familiar, musically mature beyond their years. In stark contrast to the majority of today’s bands, Aisles’ music is delicate and refined. The closest comparisons would be early PFM and Shingetsu. Even if Aisles doesn’t sound particularly like those bands, they have the characteristic dreamy, gentle passages with lots of acoustic timbres, punctuated by energetic and majestic outbursts. Overall the music sounds more British though, and in the most general terms only, you could compare them to Camel and Genesis. The vocals are in English; the blend of lead and backing vocals is a highlight of their sound. Another superb band from Chile and the Mylodon label. - Kinesis

Seems like a rather mundane name for a band, but the 2005 debut of this Chilean symphonic prog band is anything but. This is a young band with two keyboardists, two guitarists, and a singer who also plays flute. Three of them are brothers. Their music is clearly connected to 1970’s progressive rock, but they are not at all retro. They are highly original and yet somehow familiar, musically mature beyond their years. In stark contrast to the majority of today’s bands, Aisles’ music is delicate and refined. The closest comparisons would be early PFM and Shingetsu. Even if Aisles doesn’t sound particularly like those bands, they have the characteristic dreamy, gentle passages with lots of acoustic timbres, punctuated by energetic and majestic outbursts. Overall the music sounds more British though, and in the most general terms only, you could compare them to Camel and Genesis. The vocals are in English; the blend of lead and backing vocals is a highlight of their sound. Another superb band from Chile and the Mylodon label. - Kinesis

Gli Aisles sono una band cilena formata nel 2001 a Santiago. La scuola progressive sudamericana viene egregiamente rappresentata in questa opera dai tre fratelli Vergara. La musica proposta è parente stretto dei sinfonismi di Yes e Genesis dei tempi andati con un leggero tocco alla Camel. I sette brani che compongono questo The Yearning sono di estrema godibilità in un periodo così pieno di cloni prog-metal dei Dream Theater che una volta tanto, con estrema gioia del sottoscritto, non hanno niente a che vedere con quello che ci propone la band cilena.
Atmosfere soffuse ed eteree si susseguono con liriche melanconiche (liriche peraltro cantate in un inglese quasi perfetto), dando spazio alle emozioni che come tratti su una tela compongono lentamente il quadro del brano, piuttosto che la mera esposizione di tecnica, magari sopraffina, ma spesso fine a se stessa. Menzione particolare in questo senso va fatta del lungo brano (16 minuti e rotti) “Grey”, o della bellissima “The scarce light birth”, tuttavia se i singoli brani si dipanano lentamente durante l’ascolto, così vale anche per il disco nella sua interezza, con la sua musica che conquista lentamente ma inesorabilmente.
In definitiva un ottimo lavoro di prog sinfonico che soddisferà i palati più raffinati: molto consigliato. - Marco Del Corno - Arlequins

Gli Aisles sono una band cilena formata nel 2001 a Santiago. La scuola progressive sudamericana viene egregiamente rappresentata in questa opera dai tre fratelli Vergara. La musica proposta è parente stretto dei sinfonismi di Yes e Genesis dei tempi andati con un leggero tocco alla Camel. I sette brani che compongono questo The Yearning sono di estrema godibilità in un periodo così pieno di cloni prog-metal dei Dream Theater che una volta tanto, con estrema gioia del sottoscritto, non hanno niente a che vedere con quello che ci propone la band cilena.
Atmosfere soffuse ed eteree si susseguono con liriche melanconiche (liriche peraltro cantate in un inglese quasi perfetto), dando spazio alle emozioni che come tratti su una tela compongono lentamente il quadro del brano, piuttosto che la mera esposizione di tecnica, magari sopraffina, ma spesso fine a se stessa. Menzione particolare in questo senso va fatta del lungo brano (16 minuti e rotti) “Grey”, o della bellissima “The scarce light birth”, tuttavia se i singoli brani si dipanano lentamente durante l’ascolto, così vale anche per il disco nella sua interezza, con la sua musica che conquista lentamente ma inesorabilmente.
In definitiva un ottimo lavoro di prog sinfonico che soddisferà i palati più raffinati: molto consigliato. - Marco Del Corno - Arlequins

The Yearning, the debut album from the Chilean group Aisles is at once thrilling and somewhat frustrating to listen to. Thrilling because Aisles is one of the most talented new symphonic bands I've heard in a while, and frustrating because with some focus and some judicious self editing The Yearning could have been a great progressive album.

The band is quite impressive at first listen. The level of musicianship, the quality of the vocals, the overall sound of the band are all excellent, and the first track, "The Wharf That Holds His Vessel" is a nearly flawless symphonic masterwork that will introduce the listener to most of the aspects of Aisles sound. However, by the end of this disc, some of the elements of Aisles music become a bit worn. The way I see it is this: tension is built and themes developed to a point where a grand crescendo is called for, yet at these points the music often drifts off into some sort of orchestral reverie, with swelling strings and piano. Also, as evidenced best in their final track, the sixteen minute epic "Grey," Aisles likes to throw a LOT of changes into their music and this is not always to the benefit of the music as a whole. It's all beautifully performed and nice to listen to, but in the end, too much detail for its own sake is a detriment. This sort of thing derails a lot of the material on The Yearning, but there are a couple of beautiful, completely satisfying pieces to be mined from this disc.

The first track, as I said earlier, is a total success, from its Camel-like opening melody to its final notes. Its themes mesh perfectly and the tune moves through a number of melodic and metric shifts before reprising its opening motif. The only other track that matches this level of perfection is the third cut, "Clouds Motion," which is reminiscent of UK, and features vocalist Sebastion Vergara doing an admirable job of sounding like John Wetton. On this track, as on the first, the group avoids too much embellishment of the themes, and produces great music in the doing. The primary melodic voice in the band is provided by guitarists Rodrigo Sepulveda and German Vergara, who both show very mature and steady hands on the guitar work. Their acoustic and electric work is authoritative and the guitar tone is superb throughout this disc. One aspect of Aisles sound that also deserves a special mention is the outstanding quality of the drums on this disc. With no regular drummer available at the time this disc went into production, the band went for keyboard triggered drum samples and this album features the absolute best sounding and most realistic electronic percussion I have ever heard.

Lyrically, this is a very somber and melancholy album, with a constant refrain of the isolation and loneliness found in city life, and the seductive lure of darkness. Three of the five musicians in Aisles share the surname Vergara and must therefore be brothers or cousins. They share the same bloodline and, clearly, the music they create runs in their blood as well.

I can't give The Yearning the highest rating but I consider this a very worthy release nonetheless. With a bit more experience under their belts Aisles can certainly produce another disc that will capture the rapt attention of the prog community.

Rating: 4/5 - Tom Karr - Progressive World

The Yearning, the debut album from the Chilean group Aisles is at once thrilling and somewhat frustrating to listen to. Thrilling because Aisles is one of the most talented new symphonic bands I've heard in a while, and frustrating because with some focus and some judicious self editing The Yearning could have been a great progressive album.

The band is quite impressive at first listen. The level of musicianship, the quality of the vocals, the overall sound of the band are all excellent, and the first track, "The Wharf That Holds His Vessel" is a nearly flawless symphonic masterwork that will introduce the listener to most of the aspects of Aisles sound. However, by the end of this disc, some of the elements of Aisles music become a bit worn. The way I see it is this: tension is built and themes developed to a point where a grand crescendo is called for, yet at these points the music often drifts off into some sort of orchestral reverie, with swelling strings and piano. Also, as evidenced best in their final track, the sixteen minute epic "Grey," Aisles likes to throw a LOT of changes into their music and this is not always to the benefit of the music as a whole. It's all beautifully performed and nice to listen to, but in the end, too much detail for its own sake is a detriment. This sort of thing derails a lot of the material on The Yearning, but there are a couple of beautiful, completely satisfying pieces to be mined from this disc.

The first track, as I said earlier, is a total success, from its Camel-like opening melody to its final notes. Its themes mesh perfectly and the tune moves through a number of melodic and metric shifts before reprising its opening motif. The only other track that matches this level of perfection is the third cut, "Clouds Motion," which is reminiscent of UK, and features vocalist Sebastion Vergara doing an admirable job of sounding like John Wetton. On this track, as on the first, the group avoids too much embellishment of the themes, and produces great music in the doing. The primary melodic voice in the band is provided by guitarists Rodrigo Sepulveda and German Vergara, who both show very mature and steady hands on the guitar work. Their acoustic and electric work is authoritative and the guitar tone is superb throughout this disc. One aspect of Aisles sound that also deserves a special mention is the outstanding quality of the drums on this disc. With no regular drummer available at the time this disc went into production, the band went for keyboard triggered drum samples and this album features the absolute best sounding and most realistic electronic percussion I have ever heard.

Lyrically, this is a very somber and melancholy album, with a constant refrain of the isolation and loneliness found in city life, and the seductive lure of darkness. Three of the five musicians in Aisles share the surname Vergara and must therefore be brothers or cousins. They share the same bloodline and, clearly, the music they create runs in their blood as well.

I can't give The Yearning the highest rating but I consider this a very worthy release nonetheless. With a bit more experience under their belts Aisles can certainly produce another disc that will capture the rapt attention of the prog community.

Rating: 4/5 - Tom Karr - Progressive World

Seems like a rather mundane name for a band, but the 2005 debut of this Chilean symphonic prog band is anything but. This is a young band with two keyboardists, two guitarists, and a singer who also plays flute. Three of them are brothers. Their music is clearly connected to 1970’s progressive rock, but they are not at all retro. They are highly original and yet somehow familiar, musically mature beyond their years. In stark contrast to the majority of today’s bands, Aisles’ music is delicate and refined. The closest comparisons would be early PFM and Shingetsu. Even if Aisles doesn’t sound particularly like those bands, they have the characteristic dreamy, gentle passages with lots of acoustic timbres, punctuated by energetic and majestic outbursts. Overall the music sounds more British though, and in the most general terms only, you could compare them to Camel and Genesis. The vocals are in English; the blend of lead and backing vocals is a highlight of their sound. Another superb band from Chile and the Mylodon label. - Kinesis