NÚCLEOS

Platurno is one of the most promising younger bands in Chile's progressive rock scene. You can almost touch the youth of their musical offer by identifying certain levels of flatness in the writing department, as well as some passages in which the musicians don't gel their mutual interaction with reasonable perfection. But there are also very notable moments in the repertoire of Núcleos, their effective debut album. Platurno's prog music is based on a mixture of melodic prog-metal, space-rock and modern symphonic prog, with some added touches of jazz-heavy-prog (not unlike Planet X or their compatriot band Australis). Sebastián Aguayo's keyboards and Felipe Rivera's guitar pretty much share the spotlight alternatedly during the ensemble's excursions: drummer Andrés Aguayo provides a solid foundation for the aforesaid excursions, with tasteful use of moderately complex resources that don't kill the main motifs' basic dynamics. Dynamics is, by the way, the band's main forte, more than composition. Platurno doesn't show a bombastic addiction to long-term exhibitions: most tracks in the album stand between the 4'30" and 5'30" marks. Almost all the material is purely instrumental, with the guitarist providing some lead vocals (not too abundant, luckily, since his range and power are both quite limited) to a couple of songs. The namesake opener gets started with spacey synth layers that soon enough open the door for the emergence of the guitar riffs that sustain the main theme. 'La Maga' (the first sung piece) bears a curious confluence of funky-rock cadences and soaring psychedelic ambiences. 'Sueños de Panal' is a slow jam with a pronounced spacey feel: this and the subtile blues undertones present on the guitar deliveries may remind the listener of early 70s Pink Floyd; 'Cósmico V2' persists on the spacey factor, albeit balanced against the melodic jazz-rock tones provided by the main theme. 'Anhelos' shows Platurno at their most symphonic, with a prominent presence of solidly elaborated piano scales and elegant guitar solos. '. (3 Puntos)' is formed by aleatory vibes sounds on synth, being a brief prelude to 'Mundo del Amanecer', which is arguably the catchiest track in the album: its main atmosphere is a strong reminder of Planet X with added neo-prog touches and symphonic prog ornaments that bring some convenient solmenity to the main motif's development. 'Quintay' goes to far different places, since it is basically a dialogue between bucolic classical guitar arpeggios and mysterious phrases on slide guitar. The final result is somewhat disturbing, despite the fact that the calm sounds of the classical guitar is featured in the mix. Another soft, drumless piece follows: 'Perdido' is a sung ballad with a featured violin (played by a guest) that floats confidently above the floor made of guitar and piano constrained sounds. The album is closed up with the dual sequence of 'Pirata' and 'Resquebraja', which completes the heavy side of Platurno. It's a nice way to end an album that, in my opinion, doesn't qualify as truly essential, but should be paid attention to anyway, since it is the manifesto of a progressive promise that reveals interesting hints of more focused things to come in future releases. Let's hope that Platurno have more time to evolve and mature properly as a musical unit. Núcleus is a very good album.