CAST / Vigesimus ........

[LarryD]

I know I've heard of this band in the past, but I'm shocked to learn that this is their 20th release to date. Maybe we have discussed this band before, or maybe this is their most accessible release, who knows ...... Ken turned me on to them and its crazy good. Imagine Arena meets Kansas meets Shadow Gallery......yeah too good to be true but mine is on the way .......

https://www.lasercd.com/cd/vigesimus

You can check out the band here as well .......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkHPXqaFf9I

I cannot wait for this one ......not many doing music like this anymore, warms my heart to hear it .........

[LarryD]

CAST live bluray concert ---


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfezLY2v13c

[Hearing Aid Man]

20th release and I've never heard of them. The trailer for the new album does sound crazy good!

[LarryD]

20th release and I've never heard of them. The trailer for the new album does sound crazy good!

***I just bought the last Bluray show from that tour left on the planet.......and I mean that literally. Somehow, there are just no more of these shows to be found except maybe on the band's web site which I did see it for sale.......and if they have any left. That live trailer I posted above compelled me to go hunt one of these shows down, and I found one.

[introclaus]

I've been listening pretty much non-stop since Larry told me about them yesterday. It's like 70% Kansas, 20% Arena and a bit of symphonic hard rock/metal (Shadow Gallery?). Super neat.

Can't believe I've never heard of them.

[LarryD]

I've been listening pretty much non-stop since Larry told me about them yesterday. It's like 70% Kansas, 20% Arena and a bit of symphonic hard rock/metal (Shadow Gallery?). Super neat.

Can't believe I've never heard of them.

***I know that Ken mentioned them to me a couple of times over the past, and some of their past music is in Spanish - so I'm going to assume that I blew him off due to assumed accents.......Ken did mention this one to me the other day, and I checked it out immediately, and bang !!!!! Instant winner. So I know that over the past years, Ken has mentioned them a couple of times. But really - 20 discs and we are now getting into them ?? I'll take some shame for part of that, while Ken slyly sits there and says " I told you so " ......

I know you are not into concert dvds - but man, I have to say that getting what is essentially the last bluray of theirs on planet earth makes me feel a little bit better....
by the way - if anyone clicks on that live teaser link above, the show is with an orchestra - win !!!!!!!!

[introclaus]

Yeah I just purchased the Blu-ray from their website...

[LarryD]

Yeah I just purchased the Blu-ray from their website...

***Now that says a lot !!!!!!! Awesome ..........

[introclaus]

Yeah I just purchased the Blu-ray from their website...

***Now that says a lot !!!!!!! Awesome ..........

I had to - if it’s as good as you say and there’s no way to get it in the future there was no other option than pull the trigger on it now. But, let’s see if they actually do have it, they might just have kept my money haha

[LarryD]

This is an amazing disc ....... I have to keep reminding myself that this is Prog Rock, not metal .......I want to say that " no one is writing music like this anymore in the metal world " but the fact is that in the prog rock world, there still is .... and this band is one of them .....

I am in total agreement with Claus on the sound factor .... it's Kansas meets Arena big time, with some SG and symphonic stuff thrown in there as well .....this is a keybnoard driven band, but they also have a great guitar player, which they don't utilize too much here - if they did, it would come out sounding more like Shadow Gallery than anyone else - as it is, the violins and keyboards keep the Kansas sound in tact and the driving force. The production is outstanding as well - it sounds superb on my system......

That all said - I think the singer could be a problem for some.....his tone, approach and delivery are an acquired taste.....meaning, he generally stays within one range, and he does have a small nasally sound, and after trying to figure out who he sounds like, I came up with Lawrence Gowan of Styx.....he has that nasally tone, although Gowan has more flexibility in his voice. The Cast singer generally stays in one range and tone.....he is more of an instrument in the band instead of a total front man that calls attention to himself if that makes sense......

The instrumental passages will instantly bring up memories of Dream Theater and Shadow Gallery, and that puts this band into that talent arena.......super tight and slick, as they should be after 20 discs ...... wow, this still boggles my mind.

[LarryD]

I did manage to grab the last Cast bluray on the planet earth ...... it is an 8-song show with an orchestra. There isn't much singing on this show, he comes out every anow and then and sings a few lines and disappears into the backstage pretty much for every song. The rest are instrumentals with this band showing what they have for chops, and that they do.

This is a prog rock band - although the guitarist (who looks like a carbon copy of Kiko Loureiro) thinks he is in a metal band, and that's good for us as he is amazing to watch. The keyboard player is old like me, and reminds me of Martin Orford (IQ) although the Cast guy is much more technical.

The songs reminded me of what would happen if Arena jumped in bed with Shadow Gallery and Yanni. Yes, I said Yanni. The passages are technical, but beyond melodic and I kept thinking of who this sound reminds me of ......Yanni (symphonic) comes to mind. The singer, in this show anyway, comes off more as a Broadway style singer and actually sounds better here than he does on disc.

Great audio and video - just about zero crowd shots or noise, and all playing. Again, this is a band that seems to do wonderfully in a live setting, because of the instrumental passages where they show off ......the singer, at least in this show, is secondary.

[Sparky]

I've been lurking forever...I can't log in via my work laptop, and that's mainly what I use to read the board. So, anyway...this is good, although the lyrics as the album goes by become a little too...to the point, I guess. Anyway, does the male singer not sound almost EXACTLY like the singer on the old Scenario 'A Fearful Symmetry'? Btw, that Scenario disc is still one of the greater DT-clones that ever was and is still after all this time an occasional listen.

[introclaus]

I did manage to grab the last Cast bluray on the planet earth ......

I don't know who told you this, but that's such a stupid lie (sounds like a trick to get you to buy it) ... I ordered it after you had mentioned it, and I received it this week. It's still available for sale through the bands' website.

[LarryD]

I did manage to grab the last Cast bluray on the planet earth ......

I don't know who told you this, but that's such a stupid lie (sounds like a trick to get you to buy it) ... I ordered it after you had mentioned it, and I received it this week. It's still available for sale through the bands' website.

****I meant thru the normal chain of vendors ....... no one has this anywhere. I'm guessing that the band has the last few copies left. And I don't know what you paid for it, and what the shipping cost was coming from South America, but I'll bet that not a lot of people would be willing to take that chance ......

[introclaus]

I did manage to grab the last Cast bluray on the planet earth ......

I don't know who told you this, but that's such a stupid lie (sounds like a trick to get you to buy it) ... I ordered it after you had mentioned it, and I received it this week. It's still available for sale through the bands' website.

****I meant thru the normal chain of vendors ....... no one has this anywhere. I'm guessing that the band has the last few copies left. And I don't know what you paid for it, and what the shipping cost was coming from South America, but I'll bet that not a lot of people would be willing to take that chance ......

I paid $18 in total - it was sent from Calexico (California, USA). Keep in mind that the band is originally from Mexicali, which is a border town, 0.01mile from Calexico, so they sent it from USA. No "chance taken" with that

In fact, the band accidentally sent me the new "Vigesimus" album (probably since that's the one they are shipping out all the time now) by mistake first, and when I wrote them they immediately (no charge) sent me the blu-ray. Now THAT is super service!

Again, my point is that whoever told you that stuff about it being "last copy in the world" was clearly saying it to get you to jump on buying it. That's just ridiculous if you ask me.