EJECUCIÓN

From the very first riffs and beats that get the opening track 'Vatkrakis' started, you can tell that this is going to be a very robust album. The promise of "Ejecución", Sarax's second album, gets solidly fulfilled by the time it reaches its end. A concept-album revolving around the morbid thoughts and emotions that fill an incarcerated man's mind during the night before his execution, "Ejecución" turns out to be a powerful catalogue of hard rocking sounds that cleverly translate the main character's inner turmoil into progressive and/prog-oriented music. This opening track sets an explosive mood, something like early Anekdoten-meets- standardized prog metal; then comes 'Cápsula Roja', an exciting 2+ 90s Crimson- inspired tour-de-force. The almost thrash bombast of 'Matapaco' and the sinister excursions of the excellent 'Delirio de Krinia' (one of the most complex tracks) reiterate the band's interest in displaying consistent aggressions toward the listener's psyche. All in all, even though Sarax was, by then, a guitar-bass-drum trio with a ballsy attitude and a taste for clever complexity, their sound didn't (and still doesn't) fit the power trio structure exactly, since they are very keen on the introduction of synthesizer textures and adornments, even in those tracks in which harshness prevails. Another aspect that is very noticeable in Sarax's offering is the presence of some sort of extravagant madness, especially when it comes to the introduction of brief, freaked-out monologues: 'Sentencia' is a complaint about the pointlessness of human life plus a contemplation of suicide, 'Juan Pirrón' is a display of angst against authority, 'Demencia' is a call for lunacy to release the man from his current fear of death. All three monologues are quite useful in order to clarify the conceptual nature of the repertoire, given the fact that most of the material is instrumental. It is hard (and even arbitrary) to pick up particular favorites from such a cohesive album, but most certainly, the aforementioned 'Cápsula Roja{ and 'Delirios de Krinia', together with 'Extenciones', 'Kovyamkho' and 'Organon' are real gems in their own terms. 'Extenciones', which contains an interesting mix of prog metal and jazz rock, has the peculiarity of being mostly performed by the three members of Tryo, while drummer Juan Pablo Velasco handled the keyboards; the latter two are actually repeated numbers from Sarax's debut album, only with a different mix. 'Vértigo' is a very odd track, indeed: initially led by the piano and ambient synths, the band displays an almost cinematographic mood of suspense, occasionally interrupted by space rock interludes, until a heavy metal coda emerges during the last 50 seconds right until the fade-out. 'Bruma' is an electronic synth-based excursion that brings memories of early electronic krautrock (Kluster, TD's "Zeit"), scary indeed, but mostly dark and mysterious. The ambience of the epilogue 'Engranje' creates a more frivolous mood: the basic idea is quite funny, the soundtrack to the dead man's transition to the afterlife is that of a merry-go- round. Well, there you go. Overall conclusion: "Ejecución" is one of the most extravagant prog recordings of the current South American scene. Sarax is the perfect example of how you can use musical inventiveness to mix complexity, hardness and humor.

This was one of those cds i had given up hope of finding until I saw it on some obscure vendor's internet site and was able to get it. Believe me this was worth the search. This is heavy, experimental and spacey. And the singing, yelling and talking that goes on are all in Spanish. See Cesar's review to read what the concept of this album is about.

"Vatkrakis" opens with an outburst of a riff before a nice heavy soundscape comes in. The vocals are almost sinister sounding followed by some whispering. Great guitar solo follows and more whispering. Vocals are back before some demented laughing 2 1/2 minutes in as it settles down briefly. The heaviness is back before 3 minutes to the end. "Capsula Roja" opens with more heaviness. I love their sound. The guitar is fantastic.The tempo picks up and some screaming guitar arrives after 2 minutes. Just a great instrumental track that blends into "Sentencia" a short song with people speaking with background sounds. "Matapaco" opens with sirens and the sounds of people yelling and running before some fast heavy riffs take over. The heavy riffs slow down and speed up the rest of the way. "Delirio De Krinia" opens with gentle guitar and synths as different sounds come and go. Lots of atmosphere for over 2 minutes then the drums, guitar and bass create a dark mood with tempo changes. Cool section. "Extencions" features the band TRYO on bass, drums and guitar. How cool is that ! It opens with piano that reminds me of Kevin Moore on his amazing "Dead Air For Radios" record. The heaviness comes and goes until it stays for good a minute in. The guitar is grinding it out 2 1/2 minutes in. The piano is back a minute later. Incredible song. "Juan Pirron" is a short piece that is quite haunting with people yelling.

"Palpito" is a heavy, guitar led tune with some chunky bass. Some guest flute a minute in. "Demencia" is much like "Juan Pirron" with piano added. "Organon" is dark and heavy with some great bass and screaming guitar. Someone is yelling. The tempo changes as drums and bass dominate for a while. Heavy guitar 3 minutes in and more yelling. "Kovyankho" opens with waves of synths before some fat bass comes into this atmospheric section. The guitar and drums change the mood before 2 minutes as the tempo picks up. More chunky bass after 3 minutes and some outstanding angular guitar a minute after that. Nice. "Vertigo" opens with piano before a light melody follows. Some heaviness after 2 minutes before a solo piano interlude returns. All hell breaks loose 4 minutes in. "Bruma" is mostly a haunting and eerie soundscape with no real melody except for the brief heavy drums 3 minutes in. "Engranje" is the 1 minute closer that is upbeat with xylophone and silliness including a sheep.

Easily 4 stars, this is my kind of music.