Psychic Equalizer – “Prologue to Insurrection”

Psychic Equalizer is a progressive rock band founded by pianist and composer Hugo Selles, from Torrelavega, Spain. The 7^th album from Psychic Equalizer, Prologue to Insurrection, was released May 9, 2025, on all major streaming platforms and the band’s Bandcamp site.

The band has gone through several different formations. Currently, in addition to Hugo Selles, the pianist, keyboardist, e-bassist, backing vocalist and composer; the band is completed by long-time member, guitarist and backing vocalist, Carlos Barragán; drummer Sergio Azcona; and the fantastic new vocalist, Saray Riaño.

A limited edition of 500 CDs will also be available. After four years without releasing new music, this new album features a more progressive and heavier sound, with even greater political criticism in its lyrics. An album that promises to not go unnoticed by fans of progressive rock and metal. The album contains five new tracks, one of which is an epic 22-minute piece.

So, without further ado, let’s discuss the music from this epic masterpiece:

“Centuries”, is the first single off the album, with a full performance music video supporting it. At a little over 4 and a half minutes it is a stunning piece of work, that will probably be a great live show opener as well as an album starter. The song opens with Hugo Selles’ diamond piercing keys, played with intricate and enthralling piano. Then, it is Saray Riaño’s first vocals, and the audience is again stunned with something so immaculate you cannot imagine you have not heard her voice before. She sings, “While you are wasting your time. Pursuing what you’ve been told. What you’ve been taught to be right. Don’t you feel the cold? But I won’t go anywhere. While I wait for you to come back. Years or centuries. I’ll be here. Until you come out of the dark”. Saray Riaño continues her discussion of a world gone wrong. Destroying itself from the inside. She sings, “When we have grown too old. And all the lakes have dried. And all the forests have died. When winter becomes too cold. I won’t have wasted my life. For my love for you is so true. May the streets be all empty. May everyone be gone. I’ll love you endlessly”. Despite the end of the world, I’ll be here to share it with you. A love song, despite, and to spite the circumstances. Wow! The drumming is perfect and omnipresent. Thank you Sergio Azcona. Carlos Barragán’s slicing ‘Hackett to Pieces’ guitar solos are absolutely innovative and elaborate. Like a jet taking off the flightdeck, this band is soaring with creative new music.

“Leaders”, opens with grinding guitar and drums. A nearly eight minute rocker full of choruses of voices, supporting Saray Riaño. But her voice is simply in a class by itself. She sings with supporting male vocals, “I’ve walked down the path of guilt too many times. I’m tired of sniffing around like a spy. I’ve reached my lowest point, is there a way out? I’m so tired of trying to find an alibi. From the ashes the firebird came back. Look for the flame up in the sky. Are you ready to come out of the dark? Light a candle for those left behind. Make a promise you will be by my side”. Yes, a very angry political statement, which we all need right now around the world. Hugo Selles synths and keyboards, play a temporary backseat to Carlos Barragán’s malicious electric guitar and Sergio Azcona’s drums. Saray Riaño returns, “They may have torn our dreams apart. Many empty promises have been made. We’ve reached the lowest point, is there a way out? Take it somewhere else, that fucking fairytale. They may call themselves leaders of us all. It’s time to follow me on this crusade. We will fight and climb ‘til the end. We’ve reached the lowest point, we want out! We want out! From the ashes the firebird came back. Look for the flame up in the sky Are you ready to come out of the dark? Light a candle for those left behind. Make a promise you will be by my side”. I’m ready, are you? A powerful anthem.

“Tremors”, opens with powerful drums and an almost harpsichord sounding keyboards. The heavy electric guitar riffs are metal. Saray Riaño sings some screams, then, “They never said sorry. Nobody to be blamed. This is just insane. They had no shame”. Javier Sixto, joins her to perform guttural vocals sounding a little like Gollum, from The Lord of the Rings. Saray sings, “They never said sorry. Many lives were crushed. This is just insane. They were never punished. They never said sorry. Nobody to be blamed. This is just insane. They had no shame”. A powerful metal – like rocker that separates the beginning and the album ending.

“Life Will Never Shine on Me”, is a deep, long, almost instrumental. It is full of slow moving keyboards and background sound effects. Then light piano. A powerful soundscape builds. Then, acoustic guitar and deeper piano. Electric guitar returns with warm keyboards and synths. An over 6 minute reflective piece which sounds like a slow, symphonic dirge. Then, Saray Riaño, sings in angelic soprano, “Now I see what I won’t see. They won’t be who you were for me. Now I see what I won’t see. Life will never shine on me”. Unbelievable piano and keyboards fill the soundscape as she finishes. Concert piano or cinema level keyboards which exalts the entire soundscape.

But it is “Luciana”, that we all have been waiting to hear. This over 22 minute epic, tells the tragic story and pays tribute to those killed in the Reocín Mine accident on the night of August 17th, 1960. In the midst of the Torrelavega, (Spain) festivities, which were immediately suspended, the region’s worst tragedy took place – with the highest number of fatalities since the Spanish Civil War. This tragedy was completely covered up by the dictatorship and the company responsible and it remains almost completely unknown by a large part of the local population.

The song opens with deep and foreboding piano. However, this epic is a showcase for the band’s new voice, Saray Riaño, and she grabs the ring and climbs towards the peak of Mount Doom. Saray Riaño sings, “The old man carried the pain for so many years.. Hidden in between the walls of his mind, a memory. Nightmares that could make the world tremble. And nobody to be blamed for such tragedy. The young man heard the first tremor; he ran out in fear. Not even one blink and realized there was no remedy. Everything he had loved and worked for, his whole world. Gone forever, killed by an unstoppable enemy. His soulmate had disappeared”. The string quartet, perfectly placed to bring you to tears. Then, Saray sings, “His daughters’ smiles he never saw again. A force too great took them for good. He could never hug them all again”. Then, chaos as drums, electric guitar and powerful keys fill the soundscape like a dam bursting free, or of course, a landslide. Then, a pause, with just Saray Riaño and Hugo Selles’s piano, like a movie soundtrack following the story so intricately. Saray sings, “The old man passed away, drowned in his own tears. He could not find peace; he could not find serenity. He could not believe why nobody was sent to jail. Everyone lost faith in any kind of authority. The young man was saved by a brave volunteer. But he really wished to be taken to purgatory. His daughter’s hand he tried to grab but with no avail. She was taken by a giant evil energy. Houses sunk by a river of mud, far away screams. The truth suppressed by a disloyal government. The avalanche destroyed and buried his dreams. It was a summer night when he lost his family. Decades later the grief made him curl up inside. For there was no reason to shine without their company. Houses sunk by a river of mud, far away screams. The truth suppressed by a disloyal government”. Then, The symphony really takes off! An instrumental extravaganza to top them all! The electric guitar wizardry and keyboards light the second half of this masterpiece, like the lamplight atop the “Stairway to Heaven” inside cover art from Led Zeppelin IV. Now, imagine that is Hugo Selles or Carlos Barragán, at the top of the mountain holding the lamp. They both do an amazing job creating an epic soundscape for the second half of this symphony. Saray Riaño sings with the string quartet and acoustic guitar in support, “His soulmate had disappeared. His daughters’ smiles he never saw again. A force too great took them for good. He could never hug them all again. A force too great took them for good. On the night of August seventeenth, nineteen sixty. On the night of August seventeenth, nineteen sixty!” Hugo Selles’s deep piano and keyboards rebound, as Carlos Barragán joins in on acoustic guitar, and together they close this epic.

Wow! Psychic Equalizer’s Prologue to Insurrection, is an immaculate piece of cinematic progressive metal from Spain. There are no fillers or missed opportunities here at all. Just Hugo Selles’s unbelievable piano and keyboard symphony, topped off with powerful drums from Sergio Azcona and amazing electric guitar from Carlos Barragán. Saray Riaño’s perfect vocals are the find of this new album. The epic soundscape that Psychic Equalizer creates with Prologue to Insurrection, should be on your ‘must-hear’ lists of albums this year. Especially if you like heavier progressive symphonic rock. The production and mixing is so precise and captures this performance as if it were live. Listen to Prologue to Insurrection, because with a title like that, there will be more to come, and Psychic Equalizer is the band that has proven they can deliver a cinematic masterpiece!

Album Track List:

Centuries – 4:36
Leaders – 7:53
Tremors – 3:13
Life Will Never Shine on Me – 6:28
Luciana – 22:09

All lyrics by Hugo Selles. Music by Selles (1&5). Music by Barragán (2). Music by Barragán/Selles (3). Music by Adrián Ubiaga/Selles (4). All music arranged and produced by Barragán/Selles, except 1&5 by Barragán/Selles/Riaño.

Recorded by Selles/Barragán at home studios and by Alex Pis at Vindio Studios, between June and October 2024. String quartet recorded by Federico Tiero, conducted by Stefano Tiero. Mixed and mastered by Simone Mularoni at Domination Studios. Artwork by Lina Osorio.

Guest musicians:
Chus Gancedo – drums
Javier Sixto – guttural vocals (3)
Iván Salas – “Gandalf” vocals (1)
Hugo Selles – “Gollum” vocals (3)
Pablo Brie – double bass (4)
String quartet (5): Giorgio Abbadessa and Sokhema Di Croce – violin, Paul Bravo García – viola, Giulia Deda – violoncello
Backing vocals (1,2&3): Lorena Sánchez, Lucía Minondo, Elsa Arce, Saray Riaño, Iván Salas, Santos Bringas, Juan Antonio Ucelay and Ignacio Fernández

From the band, “This album has been made thanks to the support from some close friends who have helped us through different stages of the production and also thanks to everyone who has donated to our crowdfunding campaign. Love you all!!”

Band Website and Social Media Links:

https://psychicequalizer.bandcamp.com

https://www.facebook.com/psychicequalizer

https://www.psychicequalizer.com