Imprensa

Samba! That is definitely the first musical synonym that we get, when we hear Brasil (although, samba actually has roots in African music). But jazz-rock ensemble Mahtrak is trying to bring brasilian jazz-rock and progressive rock scene to life. Their idols are obviously Return to Forever, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Weather Report, Caravan, Soft Machine and such; as we can see, all this groups are from Europe or North America. So Mahtrak wants to become, like their idols, synonym for the music of their continent, South America.

Album “Panorama” is a perfect start to fill that empty space that is under the label of jazz-rock in south-american musical culture. “Panorama” was recorded 3 years after guitarist Antonio Rodrigues, drummer Cris Oliveira, bassist Fabio Cesar and keyboardist Paulo Viana had formed their band; “Panorama” was released in its final form in 2009. On the album, Mahtrak is staying loyal to the prime sound of jazz-rock that evolved in seventies of 20. century, to experimentations with Hammond, Rhodes and Mellotron in combination with vintage, classic rock sound of electric guitar. A very nice surprise is also that musicians didn’t make a seventy-ish minute long record, as it is a “progressive” norm – they rather did a 40-minute one, which is, well, kind of refreshing.

Band opens the album impressively with a wonderful “Tempestade”. Guitar and keyboards cooperate in an unbelievable maneuver. Although Viana plays just a few chords on the keys, it is perfectly compliable with Rodrigues’ fenomenal solo playing – he plays with a real feeling. “Breeza” represents a beautiful keys melody, and serves as some kind of a bridge for the first and third track. Epical “Tempestade” is so flown into a humorous “Nachos y Tequila”. Cheerful jazz-rock party-like song represents a relaxation before “harder” parts of the album – jazz-rock meets disco and funk. Still, the structure of the song itself is rather complex, full of classical jazz-rock elements.

“Sinestesia” is once again a keys-oriented track that introduces the sound of Mellotron. A beautiful melody drives us toward a fifth track of the album, “Mantra”. “Mantra” is a more straight forward jazz-rock track that is very Brand X-like. The next one is a title track, “Panorama”, that really pictures the theme of the album, the point of it all, the sky and the clouds and the sitting under them. It is probably the song made with the most effort, as it is also one of the longest creations on the album.

Album goes to the second half with “Frankenstein goes to Disneyland”. Intro creates a hard, horrorish atmosphere that is accompanied by a chaotic sound of guitar. The track is somehow funky, which probably represents the “Disneyland” part of the song, and the horror-like part of the song is “Frankenstein” part. “Frankenstein goes to Disneyland” is probably the most original-sounding song on the album. After that horror we expect another keys-oriented “bridge”, and we get one - »Il Tamburo Spaziale«. It is a bridge to the ninth track of »Panorama«, Crystal Canyon«. This one is a more of a gentle song, very touchy and full of feeling. »Crystal Canyon« gets rid of the darkness, which was the prime subject of some of the previous songs. The same gentle sound continues on “Venus”, which pictures a beautiful woman, a goddess. The melody is a bit sentimental, very emotional. The last song is called “Oraculo” and it means oracle. It is a song, where all the musicians chip in and show all their musical knowledge. It is where Mahtrak really shines.

Mahtrak’s debut is really something. It shows what a great musical vision the band has, and because of that, the band already has quite a fan base. Their superb feeling for combining music from seventies and interpreting it into a modern sounding one is unbelievable. On the top of all, Mahtrak has their own way of playing and creating their music, and that makes them unique. That is why the expectations are big, and I myself can’t wait for their second album.

Mahtrak in the press