Detailed Reviews [Dialeto - 2013 - "The Last Tribe"]

Prolusion. The Brazilian trio DIALETO was formed back in 1987, but their initial phase didn't result in any official recordings to be released before the band hit an elongated phase of hiatus. In 2006 they decided to have another go however, and in 2008 they self released their debut album "Will Exist Forever". Since then a further two studio productions have seen the light of day. "The Last Tribe" is the most recent of these, and was issued through Moonjune Records in 2013.

Analysis. One of the curious items on the album credits of Dialeto's latest album are the instrument credited top Jorge Pescara: touch guitar. Everybody's favorite provider of uneven quality information, Wikipedia, defines touch guitar liken this: "Touch guitar is a name used for a variety of musical instruments of the guitar family which have either been designed or adapted to utilize a fretboard-tapping playing style. Prominent examples of touch guitar include the Chapman Stick and the Warr Guitar". Which, I guess, is useful knowledge. As for the music on this disc, it can broadly be described as instrumental progressive rock of the hard-edged variety. Drummer Angel provides firm and often economically effective drum patterns to the table, while the beefy bass, which is so much a distinctive feature, comes courtesy of whatever instrument Pescara utilizes at any given time, at most times my suspicions would be in the direction of the Chapman stick for this detail. Then again I'm not a musician, so I may be at fault on that one. Upon this foundation, which is an effective and compelling one I might add, we're presented with an array of guitar driven arrangements. Frequently layered ones at that, and I wouldn't at all be surprised of there's a Warr guitar present on a number of occasions throughout, supplementing whatever guitar Nelson Coelho uses. The compositions all alternate between a variety of different guitar dominated arrangements. The band does have a taste for resonating guitar sounds, with plenty of instances where the individual note resonations are used to create flowing melody-based lead motifs. Applied on riffs as well on lighter toned, guitar solo oriented excursions, frequently combining both of them in finely contrasting set-ups. Pairing off dark toned, compact riff foundations with lighter toned, fragile guitar solo runs or plucked motifs are another specialty of this band, and fairly often we're treated to additional layers too. These tend to have textured qualities that bring occasional associations towards post rock, nervous fluttering guitar layers way back in the soundscape or more prominent, distorted guitar layers with a twisted, subtly atonal quality. All of these alternating and combining in different manners and configurations, occasionally with a sparse, compact standalone guitar solo given space to shine further expanding the canvas utilized. Dialeto's current brand of progressive rock is difficult to subscribe to any easily defined box, as they touch upon plenty of fairly different musical bases. Bass and occasionally drums may carry a trace of fusion at times, the different guitar constructions carry references to the likes of Jimi Hendrix just as much as to Robert Fripp or perhaps even Jimmy Page, if you stretch it a bit. The compositions tend to stick to a harder edged sound however, and I guess instrumental progressive hard rock may be the most suitable overall description.

Conclusion. Dialeto appears to have settled into a well defined sound as of 2013, utilizing a fairly vast canvas to craft their own brand of harder edged, instrumental progressive rock. Economic, sparse and effective on one hand yet richly layered with plentiful of details on the other, they merrily wander wherever they want to go, to the enjoyment of listeners with a taste for easily accessible music and challenging escapades both. A CD that should appeal to fans of progressive rock looking for something subtly different and occasionally demanding, especially those amongst that crowd who prefer their music to be of the instrumental variety.

OMB=Olav M Bjornsen: October 3, 2013
The Rating Room