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Portugal is not an easy country to get information from, especially because during the 70's when PETRUS CASTRUS
wasformed,thisIberiancountry was under a dictatorship that was not very fond on freedom of speech, and this guys didn't fellunder the
category ofpoliticalcorrect. Thefact that their first and better album has never been upgraded to CD and thesecond one just recently makes
even harderthesearch for theirmaterial.
Petrus Castrus is an interesting Symphonic band formed 1971 by brothers Jose (Keyboards, bass, vocals) and
PedroCastro(Vocals,guitars,bass), who recruited Julio Per ...read more
Portugal is not an easy country to get information from, especially because during the 70's when PETRUS CASTRUS
wasformed,thisIberiancountry was under a dictatorship that was not very fond on freedom of speech, and this guys didn't fellunder the
category ofpoliticalcorrect. Thefact that their first and better album has never been upgraded to CD and thesecond one just recently makes
even harderthesearch for theirmaterial.
Petrus Castrus is an interesting Symphonic band formed 1971 by brothers Jose (Keyboards, bass, vocals) and
PedroCastro(Vocals,guitars,bass), who recruited Julio Pereira (Guitars) and Rui Reiss (Organ) ex members of a band called Play Boys
andJoãoSeixas on drums,the name ofthe band is the latin translation of Pedro Castro.
During this first era they were heavily influenced by Pink Floyd, Procol Harum, The Nice and even Pink Floyd, despite the
factthattheirinspirationis very eclectic, their sound is very close to early British Symphonic, mostly ELP.
The band signed a contract with the producer Valentim de Carvalho and recorded two EP's "Marasmo" e "Tudo isto, Tudomais"
whichwerewellreceived by the critic, after this releases they signed with a new born label called Sassetti.
With this label they released their first LP "Mestre" in 1973, considered one of the best albums of all Portuguese Prog historythat I had
thelucktolisten a couple of times. Due to the controversial lyrics based in poems by Bocage, Alexandre O'Neill,Ary dos Santos,
FernandoPessoaandSophia de Mello Breyner Anderson that are a statement against the Dictatorship,"Mestre" was banned for three months
bytheCensorshipCommission, it's even harder to understand why they weren'tcompletely banned, rumors say they had some strong
influencesinthe Governmentcircles, this album is not available on CD.
After this debut album they release a third single called "A Bananeira" still a satirical criticism to the Government, but
brothersCastrotiredofcensorships and temporal banning of their music decide to end the band and leave Portugal to study until1976.
This new incarnation of PETRUS CASTRUS recorded their second album "Ascenção e Queda" (Rise and Fall) released in
1978,aconceptualalbummuch more Symphonic oriented but still very naïve, the concept is about the hopes of the people in afictional new
politicianof anobscure nationthat after some times becomes a new dictator. The critic was hard with thisalbum, but very appreciated
outsidePortugal."Ascenção e Queda" isthe only PETRIS CASTRUS album released in CD by aKorean label in 2001.
There is not much more to say about this band after "Ascenção e Queda" only was able to find that they released two
moresingles"Cândida"and"Agente Altamente Secreto", made a couple of tours and simply vanished from the Portuguese
scenarioin1980 « hide |
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