Snowman is a progressive rock band from Portugal, composed by Pedro Fernandes (vocals and guitar), Fernando Mateus (drums), Dinis Costa (keyboards) and Ricardo Costa (bass). In 2018, Snowman released its first single "Leave It All Behind" and a few days ago it debuted with the EP titled "Inner Light". Its half-hour long program is composed of five tracks.
"Laura" resembles recording in a rehearsal room, as if it was standing up with his team instruments and musicians mentioning the last remarks before going out to the stage. As if someone by inattention pressed the button with the inscription RECORD. The band completes these acoustic inlaws and starts their proper performance from the single recording "Leave It All Behind". It is heard in the subtle fascination of the Porcupine Tree sounds, it takes a nice guitar theme and apparently the song has some hallmarks of the hit. But rather small and not the genre of those that immediately fall into the ear and can not stop playing in the head of the listener.
Another recording is a bit more strictly sounding, based on broken rhythm, "Our Smile". Until then, the contractual 'concert' of the Snowman group sensed at most a light atmosphere and I do not feel too much touched or impressed by these rhythms. Fortunately, it's the turn of "She's Not There". This is a determined nail of the disc program, its strongest point and during its listening it immediately gets warmer at heart. This is no longer the raw Snowman from the previous tracks, but more elaborate, more colourful, more diverse and definitely more progressive. During these 8 minutes there is a place for everything: for good keys to build the atmosphere, a nice vocal line, and above all for a real guitar extravaganza maintained in the style of beautiful David Gilmour’s soloing. This is undoubtedly a magnum opus of this EP. Grand finale. And after it there is still a place for a contractual 'encore' in the form of almost completely instrumental (a few lines of text sung by Pedro Fernandes only sounds in the last 30 seconds) track "Sophia", which decoration is again a long, even guitar solo. Beautiful and finesse. Made in masterclass, as if a tad in the style of Bjørn Riis. Applause. Curtain. What's next?
Apparently, Snowman draws from the influences of Porcupine Tree, Opeth, Pink Floyd and Steven Wilson or David Gilmour. It also adds a lot from their own. The first step was made. It's time for another. Maybe a big, more courageous and in the right direction. We will surely follow the fate of this Portuguese band.
