ALQUILBENCIL

This first ALQUIBENCIL record is a good example o fthe noisy prog school appeared in Spain in the 1990´s (in the vein of Dificil Equilibrio, with whom they have played live), much in the vein of a fiery jazz rock, very much influenced by King Crimson, John Zorn or Primus. Lots of distorted guitars, fiery rhytms and aggressive vibes. Although being a short lived band, they had great influence at their time in the underground scene. Highly reccommended for those interested in the noisy side of prog; those interested in melodic songs, don´t try it.

Good news from Spain.

Alquilbencil is a Spanish band which I believe disbanded long time ago. They left behind two good albums. This is their debut album.

Their music is both instrumental and eclectic. That is eclectic as in all over the place & difficult to pinpoint. It is somewhere in the crossroad between Post Rock, Eclectic, Fusion, Space rock, Folk and Heavy Prog. With folk, I mean there is a lot of Spanish rhythms and passion. In short, this album takes the listener on a very lively ride with a lot of hills and valleys. Lively and passionate is the best labels I can put on the music too which goes from pastoral to full sound cascades throughout the album. Some, actually most of the music is also somber and mellow. The sound quality is also great too and really conveys the essence of this music.

The quality of the music is very good throughout. My only gripe is the lack of any really great tracks here. But this is still a very good album which I believe Post Rock fans in particular will love. Gosh, this band almost deserve a move over to that category.

I am very strict on my stars so three have to do. But I can see other reviewers find a new best friend in this album and it give full marks so check it out. This album will remain on my playlist for the next decades too.

3.5 stars

Badalona-based Catalan Hard/Fusion/Prog group.Alquibencil were put together in 1997 and the original line-up featured Carlos Rojo and Joan Santanach on guitars, Richard Pons on bass and Xavi Carbonell on drums.On their debut they were helped by sax player Oriol Jimenez and keyboardist Alex Alguacil on a couple of tracks.It was a self-titled private-released CD, which saw the light in 1998.

Alquibencil wouls take the rougher moments of KING CRIMSON and DJAM KARET and transform them into some very noise Experimental Rock blended with Hard Prog and Fusion, where the dual guitar attack dominates the whole atmosphere.This is completely raw material, a bit like early CEREBUS EFFECT or DEUS EX MACHINE with very sharp and often metallic guitars, where the music often loses its focus and becomes an endless journey of guitar jams with breaks, heavy riffing and powerful grooves.The first couple of tracks are very annoying to say the least with loose arrangements based on heavy guitars and a chaotic atmosphere overall.The later tracks though hold a bit of interest.The guitar work becomes more flexible with both psychedelic and groovy moments, the addition of keys and saxes add a nice jazzy color, while the presence of the very solid rhythm section is eventually evident.Moreover the band decided to throw in some fine melodies and delicate pianos at a few moments and, while the music remains highly atonal and edgy, these compositions sound more balanced.

Not paricularly recommended, this first Alquibencil work is more of a cool jamming session than a well-worked album and I can see it belonging in the collection of Experimental and Hard Prog fans, but no further than this.