CoC : Beto Vazquez Infinity - Beto Vazquez Infinity : Review

Beto Vazquez Infinity - _Beto Vazquez Infinity_
(Drakkar / XIII Bis, 2002)
by: David Rocher (2 out of 10)

Be warned: this recording is no less than the finest possible avatar of a corporate musical pull-in. I haven't a clue as to whom Beto Vazquez may be, or whence he so suddenly arose from, but it seems that the mainstream musical heavens quite miraculously opened up to grace his very own project "Infinity" with some of the most famed musicians and singers available in the genre: Tarja Turunen of Nightwish, Candice Night of Blackmore's Night, Jorg Michaels of Stratovarius, Fabio Leone of Rhapsody... and others yet. It's nothing personal, but set aside the enrapturing vocal performances of Tarja Turunen or Sabine Edelsbacher (lead vocalist in Edenbridge), you're left with a very soothing, tragically boring, mid- to slow-paced fifty-minute concept album similar to massively watered-down Nightwish (not, of course, that Nightwish are outrageously muscular), parsimoniously interspersed with the odd Celtic-sounding flute or tin whistle doodle for good measure; cute, very relaxing -- you can't after all expect new age music atmospherics meshed with AOR-style aggressiveness to be massively invigorating -- and, first and foremost, sedative beyond belief. Yawn.

(article published 3/7/2002)