Regna is a symphonic prog rock band hailing from Barcelona. In late December 2023, the band released its debut full-length album, Cinema. This young band is not afraid to show off their influences and their considerable talent. The first thing that strikes you about the band is the outstanding Hammond organ work of Miquel González, instantly bringing to mind the aggressive sound of Jon Lord with the melodic sensibilities of Rick Wakeman. Add to this the dual guitar threat of Alejandro Domínguez and Xavier Martínez, seamlessly moving from providing harmony to ambient environments to almost discordant structures, their precision and ability to add the perfect balance is phenomenal. The glue holding all of these, at times, bombastic lead instruments together is the brilliant rhythm section of Arturo García (bass) and Eric Lavado (drums). And floating above all of this impressive musical palette is the expressive and emotional voice of Marc Illa. The album truly needs to be experienced as a whole as the composition and production creates a seamless flow which draws the listener from track to track even though this is not really a concept album. A couple of tracks in particular need to be highlighted though. The Tangent opens with a healthy nod to bands like Gentle Giant or Spock's Beard without ever becoming derivative before taking us on an emotional musical journey full of highs and lows. González provides some excellent piano work on this track and the guitar duo carry the listener away. Illa's emotive vocals, which bring to mind Canadian band Leggat, bring the track back down to earth with an honesty and rawness that is beyond description. The other track that stands out is the albums epic closer Accolade- which weaves an elaborate musical web which flows and winds itself around the listener's mind. This track can easily hold its own when held up to some of the best of 70's prog with its use of light and dark, soft and heavy, melodic and contrasting segments. Overall this is an excellent album. If I were to have one complaint it would be that there parts of the album where the lead instruments completely over-power the rhythm section, masking their excellent contributions (but this a minor complaint). Fans of classic 70's symphonic prog will find much to love here. I hope we get to hear much more form this band in the future as I believe that they may have only scratched the surface of what they capable of with this much talent. ****+ David Carswell Where to buy? |
