The Last Tribe, Dialeto

You can count on Leonardo Pavkovic to come up with interesting and even great international prog jazz-rock. He is an international guy to begin with and he's all over the world working with bookings and tours so it's only natural that he'd be up on the world and who is coming up anywhere at any time.

So we get a band today of his, the Last Tribe, doing it in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Their album Dialeto (Moon June 054) gives them space to unfold their prog metal power trio drama. And it's a real kick to hear them do so because they are very good.

Nelson Coelho plays electric guitar with a big, big sound. He writes the music, which advances the cause of mind-over-metal in a great way. Jorge Pescara on touchguitar (that includes the bass) and Miguel Angel on drums have all the toughness and power Nelson needs to make things pop.

This isn't about 90-miles-an-hour licks so much as it's about making big music that moves in big ways. It's not that the solos are technically less than stellar--it's that the emphasis is on the music and its POWER. And that it's Brazilian is mostly something you pick up on if you already know to listen for it. It's there in subtle ways.

What this is comes down to what? It is excellent power rock with the sophistication of jazz and smartness of nice compositional delivery.

So I am totally happy to have it to listen to lots of times. I look forward to more!