-Greg’s Take-

Like Tool?

Me too.

Like A Perfect Circle (A.K.A Tool Light)?

Me too.

Well now that we’re friends we need to have a serious discussion. Mr. Maynard James Keenan is not Chilean. He is actually from Ohio. Which surprised the hell out of me when I heard South American rockers And The Elephants.

The Chilean five piece band, comprised of Francisco Echeverria, Eduardo Rossel, Alvaro Faundez, Renato Valenzuela and Gabriel Soublette, formed under the name And The Elephants and released their debut album Castor, Pollux under the guise of “Something like post punk revival meets progressive rock” but in fact strike a sound much closer to Keenan and crew.

Though not as heavy handed in the drums or scratchy experimental in guitar and bass, ATE moves tightly within the formula that works so well with the aforementioned rock icons.

Four of the five tracks are doused in strutting riffs, a rolling rhythm section and accented vocals that draw you in like a hypnotic audible whirlpool; they will shove you around and toss you out only to have you begging to jump back in. The anthematic lyrics hold tightly to their addicting presence throughout, you’ll notice this by how quickly you start to sing along, and the instrumentals are proof positive that these guys decide their own future. As a debut EP, it holds the key to all things rock.

Admittedly, the associations are there and hard to shake, though unintentional or not, Castor, Pollux is a hell of an album packed tightly into five tracks.  I will be the first to confess that I have no idea what the Chilean music scene is like. Hell, I don’t know much about the country as a whole. What I do know is that with music like this, they can quickly draw world attention. Until then, I will cherish this underground rock by turning it all the way to eleven.