Júlio Stotz – ‘Suspended In Reverie’ [Review]
One of my favourite things about the Internet is easy access to music from across the world. Here at TMMP, I’ve been honoured to hear music from the UK, the USA, Belgium, France, Israel, Japan, and many other territories besides. Júlio Stotz hails from Brazil – and his debut EP Suspended In Reverie is a confident, flamboyant, and solid-as-concrete construction.
Stotz is, without a shadow of a doubt, a great musician in the making. Suspended In Reverie showcases an intimidating level of technical and compositional prowess, as well as a clear and confident artistic package. Image and music blend seamlessly together here; both are slick and detailed, the cover art flawless, the production job clean and precise. Suspended In Reverie is, absolutely, the genuine prog-metal article. The influence of bands like Dream Theater, Nightwish, and Symphony X is obvious, and mined expertly for choice musical moments.
Overall, however, the impression is one of an artist who is so close – tantalisingly close – to discovering his own voice. Personally, I’d love to hear some serious odd-time sections (à la Dream Theater), deeper grooves (see Symphony X, Meshuggah, Periphery, and Animals As Leaders), and greater stylistic variety (think Between The Buried And Me, Dream Theater, or even Naor Tsubery). The older tracks featured on Stotz’s SoundCloud page reveal an artist who is already on the path to a great musical revelation, and the release of Suspended In Reverie is, evidently, a landmark achievement. But what is really exciting is the wealth of creative possibilities open to Júlio Stotz right now.
For the time being, however, Suspended In Reverie is more than enough to tide prog-metal fans over. An impressive and noteworthy achievement.
Links
Júlio Stotz on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/js.cwb
Follow TMMP on Twitter for more awesome music! If you’re a regular reader, thanks for the support! Don’t stop, and keep going!