HUGO FLORES

Artist's Website
Contact Artist
Amadora, Portugal

Warranties and Disclaimers

"... The opening 'Mistaken Gods' is pretty incredible. The guitar work is almost perfect, even by very professional standards, and this song rightly begins a highly progressive cd that does Not falter. The tunes are crafted with an elephant load of hot energy, with plenty of show off spots along the way. The man knows how to play.

For instance, 'Sailing' is a 7 minute rock/new age piece which eventually brings vocals in like an expanded Toto record, with enough space filters to allow the synthetic music to skip into your brain as if Hugo's just thrown a small boulder of ice against your mind waves. The sax rather sounds like a keyboard tool, but one can forgive such a small thing in the wake of so much enlightened accomplishment.

23 years old, from Portugal, Hugo Flores is already the veteran of 3 cds, and has a small stack of accomplishments, both online and in real time, which prove that on the side of lite progressive metal, Mr. Flores will be a much sought after musician in the near future. He's not a bad singer either, a smooth tenor voice that has Freddie Mercury notes swimming around it sometimes. The songs are all in English by the way. Take these words from 'Train to Infinity'  'a planet in flames / who is to blame / down deep inside / he found the strength / to leave in time'. You don't find them impressive? Okay, now listen with the music." - Ben Ohmart, @NZone.com

"Hugo Flores is a young Portuguese musician who has come to tame land seeking for an affirmation in the national and international musical scene. With this Atlantis, this seek starts to make sense because it's clear he's not lacking in talent. Music if of exclusive responsibility of Hugo Flores, being the lyrics in charge of Hugo and Carlos Mateus. Hugo plays the guitar and the keyboards, as well as he programs the bass and the percussion on synthesizer. I'm not a programmed percussion appraiser but, the truth must be said, one can hardly notice it in this work. Here you can find tracks that go from New Age to Metal. Opening with MISTAKEN GODS, soon we are faced with a high technique, with the guitar soloing from the start, backed by some cool arpeggios. Rock is typically mainstream, although the keyboards give it a more progressive mood. The arrangements are very good, matching with a heavy melodic dose. PEACEFUL MIND enters in a Vangelis typical calm world, where the piano sails the waves of music in a cool and healthful climate. In SAILING, a slow but well marked rhythm follows the sax through urban circuits. FADING BEAUTY enters a little in a more Metal side, with strong guitar riffs molding a scary surrounding! BIRTH OF A CITY becomes involved in technology by going towards a New Age kind of composition, based on synthesizers. Here one can notice the extreme care on compositions and arrangements, all well measured up and technically in a high professional level. SOMETHING CALLING ME resembles a bit of Dream Theater's SILENT MAN, this time based on piano. THE SYSTEM, TRAIN TO INFINITY and BELIEVE are three tracks that demonstrate Hugo's interest in this work by having a good and solid structure. They are typically progressive tracks, with some rhythmic and melodic variations that appeal to each one's sensibility, revealing some maturity on composition. Concluding, it must be said that this is an excellent work, full of new and fresh ideas and revealing the great talent of this youngster. " - Spulit, Prog-PT.com

"Hugo Flores is one of those adventurous souls that mostly populate the progressive genre. He has the right levels of courage and capacity, at the age of 23, to have released by his own, a nice collection of CD's. All self made, self-played and self produced. You just have to applaud this in a country where prog music is either unknown or widely ignored.
Fortunately though, the quality of his playing and the ability to express his visions in form of enlightened music are fully accomplished in Atlantis. Here, the proof that he would deserve a bit more attention by the record labels is plain obvious…”

“…it is also true that is music composition and instrumental delivery is of very high calibre.  I have to wonder what would be if he had a back unit to support him, or an able set of musicians to fully explore and put to practice his ideas...no doubt an acclaimed band indeed.  Peaceful Mind is a perfect soundtrack for a sunset watch in the arms of your beloved one. An instrumental ballad that deeply transmits a sense of emotional calmness and security.  With Sailing, the album takes another turn into more rooting progressive music. The guitar work is impressive and the keyboards are even better throughout this song. The duet vocals with an (apparentely) female guest are very well set, but the fact is that there is no female guest...the vocals are all performed by Hugo himself, in a very peculiar and effective way. A nice surprise here! Hugo sings in a passionate and emotional way here… The last section where you can hear a sax (or imitation of one?) is terrific, as it makes the music jump into another dimension.  Fading Beauty is the return of some heavier and harder approaches. The guitar is edgy and the riffs are a bit aggressive but the rhythm soon slows, just to accelerate again. It’s a sort of Hard Prog with prog-metal alike vocals. The instrumental parts are, again, very competent and well crafted.  Birth of a City presents Hugo's New-age sensibility. It’s another emotional trip into almost visible landscapes. The music, like its title, is slowly built and keeps growing till the end. There is a clever use of programmed drums and the wood-piped keyboard sound its just delicious.
One of the best songs in the album may well be Something Calling Me which starts with delicate piano and then the vocals and other textures are quietly and slowly added. The resulting ballad is quite beautiful.  Where the wind goes is another instrumental piece. It is more accessible to non-proggers for its simple content. Also more straightforward than most of the album.  The System is way more interesting than the previous track. The rhythm is way more interesting. The guitar riffing crescendo till the piano enters in style, are the main highlights in this track.  Train to infinity further explores the creative capacity of the artist. It’s more multi-layered and complex. There are multiple vocals in an interesting interplay. Again, the instrumental parts are what really stand out.  Walking to the end of Atlantis visit, Believe resumes what the album represents. A fine mould of progressive rock with new-age approaches. The guitar entry preparing the keyboard solo is just perfect. The keyboard draws a butterfly flight, with its odd and free movement...great!  The title song Atlantis, that ends the album, is a more hard Prog oriented song, even if adding some calm, almost acoustic, parts. Just to make a small sum. I think this is a good album with some terrific instrumental parts. Even if you can pinpoint some flaws here and there, you surely will enjoy this if you are into Prog Rock with lots of rhythm changing and new-age ambiences. And Hugo really can play!
I am looking forward to listen to his new project: Sonic Pulsar” - Nuno Lourenço, Prognosis

"Atlantis was a very pleasant surprise for me. I had never heard of Hugo Flores, who is a young Portuguese composer/guitarist and this was an excellent way to become acquainted with his music. My first impression after a few bars of the opener, "Mistaken Gods" was a strong Triumph vibe, a la "Never Say Never", but this became less prominent after he vocals began, which thankfully aren't as super high as Rick Emmett's.

I think this is clearly the work of an ambitious musician with real talent and excellent ideas. He shows a keen sense of melody and makes use of interesting arrangements and layers throughout. This is apparent even in the carefully sequenced drums, which sound much better than one would expect from a machine. Interesting effects are achieved through syncopation rather than odd time signatures, there are cool grooves and hooks everywhere and the guitar work is tasty, with that skilled, 80's sort of technique. In my mind, this is definitely a great demo. Perhaps the only real drawback is the lyrical content. I mean, the words aren't bad, but they are certainly of inferior quality to the music. The good news is that the tunes are there; if Flores can get together the right
bunch of musicians, he has the potential to lose the occasional jagged edges here and there and make much better-sounding records which he could then support in live performance.

 I would like to encourage people to check out this guy's work with an open mind (remember that it is really a demo), because it shows class and attention to detail, and it rocks! I would like to see him move on to bigger fish with the help of a band
instead of the many faces of Mr. Roland. Check out Hugo Flores at Fossil Records! And to Hugo, all I can say is "Obrigado" and persevere!" - Luis Nasser, Prog4You.com