Independently released, and by now out of the market, Octopus's eponymous debut album is an amazing showcase for the band's main fortes: fiery sounds, tight interplaying and amazing dynamics. Even though they're yet to solidify their sonic storm in a cohesion exhibited as in their excellent sophomore effort "Bonsai", this album males a splendid entry in the realms of prog metal. The influences of Dream Theater, Spiral Architect and early 90s Fates Warning are clear to see, as well as the psychedelic defiance of King Crimson and the hard jazz-rock of Attention Deficit and LTE. The final result is based on teh robust interplaying between the dual guitars and the fluid dynamics of the rhythm duo. 'Litio' kicks off the album with a slightly constraint energy that eventually gives room to a full frontal metallic explosion for the last two minutes. This momentum is effectively maintained by the following track 'Z.O', one of the fiercest pieces in the album. 'Panning in, Tempo out' is more focused on the elaboration of psychedelic ambiences very much a-la KC, although the band is determined to not let go of their metallic ideology, anyway, as it is shown is some dramatic interludes strategically placed during the development of the main motifs. The management of these constrasts is so polished that it would be fair to regard this number as one of the most successful examples of well-crafted interplaying in the album. 'Z.O' and these one - two highlights in a row. 'Ignición' is pretty much similar to 'Z.O' in spirit: energetic prog metal with interesting choices for the twists that go on appearing along the way. A third highlight... As if there wasn't enough rocking power so far, 'Pasajes' displays a bigger dose of electrifying energy, and so will do 'O/zon', the impressive closure. On the jazzier side of things, 'Claroscuro' makes a surprising shift toward the realms of jazz- rock, in this way, allowing the rhythm section to assume some sort of leading role due to the fact that the elaboration of the track's special swing takes a special place in the mix. Of course, the band couldn't resist the temptation of installing a few metallic interludes, besides the energetic closing theme. 'Colores' digs deeper in the jazz factor, this time creating a playful Latin atmosphere seasoned with jazz-rock flavours. And again, some metallic interlude appears in order to stir thing up quite a bit. Let's go back to the closure 'O/zon'. This piece creates an exciting KC-meets-Tool mood on a 7/8 tempo, with things getting at their wildest from 5'30" onwards, before the opening theme reappears as a coda. Two minutes of silence anticipate the emergence of a brief "Discipline"-inspired dual guitar counterpoint. Not an original trick, but really an attractive way to finish a very good album. Prog metal South America deserves more recognition and dissemination: Octopus is a perfect example of this. Let's just wait for a time in which this album gets a proper re-release. Review by & © Cesar Inca ****/5 © Prog Archives, All rights reserved http://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=13778#buymusic
Octopus is a potent and highly talented, if largely obscure Instrumental Technical Prog Metal band from Chile formed in 2001 by four musicians from Projazz Professional Institute of Music , Santiago. Chile. Guitarists Fernando Daza and Jorge Benavides, bassist Braulio Aspe, and drummer Christopher Orozco, comprise the main band and though their sound could arguably be described as a hybrid of bands in the vein of Gordian Knot and Liquid Tension Experiment, their style is very unique and with great skill Octopus manage to be experimental, complex, and melodic all at the same time. The band has released four albums ,"Octopus" in 2004, "Bonsai" in 2006, the EP "Coda" in 2008, and "Into The Void Of Fear" in 2012. Excluding the first s/t album, these albums were released in Europe and very well received by the public and the music press which allowed the band to carry out major tours in North America and Europe including the Crescendo festival at Saint-Palais - Sur-Mer, France and the Baja Prog Festival at Mexicali, Mexico. This first s/t album is very impressive, all instrumental, progressive, technical metal. If you like effective and exciting prog metal/fusion with high calibre musicianship pushed to the edge then this album may be right up your street. Little has been heard from this band since 2009/2010. There is scattered info available about the band, but nothing solid. Also, it is difficult to find info on the band as there are so many other bands with the same name. Listen to more of Octopus @ https://soundcloud.com/octopus-band and check out Octopus’ “Bonsai” album If anybody can help me out with more detailed info about this band, I would be most grateful. TVM...Paul [All tracks @ 320 Kbps: File size = 102 Mb]
TRACKS
1. Litio (6:00)
2. 2.0 (5:51)
3. Panning In Tempo Out (8:00)
4. Ignición (5:49)
5. Claroscuro (5:24)
6. Pasaje (5:07)
7. Colores (5:44)
8. O/zon (13:07)
MUSICIANS
Fernando Daza, Jorge Benavides - Guitars
Braulio Aspe - Bass
Cristobal Orozco - Drums
SHORT BIO
Chilean instrumental act OCTOPUS got started in the year 2001, formed by drummer Cristóbal OROZCO and bassist Braulio ASPÉ. Guitarists Sebastián LAVÍN and Fernando DAZA joined in, and then the foursome was ready to fulfill their broadening vision of rock. All four musicians had academic training at the Projazz School of Music. A CD demo comprising 4 tracks was released in the following year: it was recorded in one day on a stage environment (without an audience). After LAVÍN left, he was replaced by Jorge BENAVIDES. At the time, the band's repertoire had been augmented, and with the new ideas brought in by the new guitarist, the band eventually went to the studio to record their official debut CD, titled after the band itself - it was 2004. In the last two years, OCTOPUS gained a cult following in their country's underground rock audiences, mesmerized by their exciting and complex prog metal offering. Concerts gradually became more frequent. In late 2005 the band was signed to Mylodon Records with an eye on their following album "Bonsai", which was recorded between Dec'05 and Feb'06, released in mid 2006. Their Myspace blog is very recurrently visited, with public accolades from big names of the worldwide progressive/experimental scene. Especially recommended to fans of prog metal (DREAM THEATER, LTE, CANVAS SOLARIS), experimental prog with an attitude (GORDIAN KNOT, BOZZIO LEVIN STEVENS, BILL RIEFFLIN) and the harder side of current South American prog (TRYO, AUTÓMATA, QUAKER, EXSIMIO). - © Cesar Inca © Prog Archives, All rights reserved. http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=2694
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