DE TODOS UNO

This is pretty much a reunion of all the original members (except for Rosa Moreno). Because of the lack of Rosa Moreno, the album tends to be more guitar-oriented, and it's too bad that the keyboards used here (by Ricardo Moreno) sound quite ugly and plastic- sounding. Also a bad move is bassist Nohemi D'Rubin decided she should sing on half the songs. Unfortunately, Mexican Spanish doesn't always seem to go over too well in a prog setting, as she sings in that stereotypical Mexican style that might work much better in Latin music. But aside from the singing and awful synthesizers, this has got to be one of their best albums ever. They really know how to rock here, and it's really the guitars (from both Ricardo Moreno and Ricardo Ortegon) that really count. The band plays tighter than they had before (early albums showed their performance could often be sloppy). Of course the biggest problem, is while their first few albums had been reissued here in America (on the Art Sublime label) and in France (on Musea), their more recent material was only released in Mexico, which seems to be overlooked by many dealers that carry imports. But if you like ICONOCLASTA, and get over the singing and cheesy synths, you're certain to enjoy "De Todos Uno".

Well this band has been always inserted into the best prog collection from Mexico (especially if you hear the music critics from the Latin world of Central and South America), but for sure their jazz rock, passing through a sort of "Pomp rock" of the early eighties (for me close to the so called English New Progressive Wave, but with a poppy touch...), has always created a bit of confusion about the music They play!! But coming back to the present work, it's very far away from their best albums or from their most "mature" ones at least (think of "Reminiscencias" and "Adolescencia Cronica);nevertheless their effort during the emulation of their old albums is a bit strident but however remarkable,above all if you consider the lack ol Rosa Moreno and their choice regarding the vocalist: their bass player is not fitted into this delicate role and morevoer the sounds of the synths and the "untreated" guitar effects, are a real defect inside!!

Anyway it remains as the only studio work of the nineties which is worth checking out from the beginning to the end, in spite of being not totally essential...make your own choice!

Iconoclasta, one of the most well known Symphonic bands in Mexico, they were also kind of pioneers of Progressive rock in my country, alwayswith great music, great keyboards, and excellent drumms. This album is not their best, is not as amazing as others, i think this is only another album for the discography, here we can listen a lot of guitars, including a spanish guitar passage, keyboards are not that important here, i dont know why they decided to give a less importance because their early albums has a great keyboard sound. I think this is a bit repetitive album, with some good lyrics, and of course it has some good songs like La Etica del Verdugo and specially La Busqueda de la Verdad en Si Mismo, it has female vocals, but i dont really enjoy Nohemi´s voice.

I am not happy with this album, they have done better works, and to be honest if you want to give a chance to this GREAT Mexican band, you have to listene to any other album, but not this, maybe this will dissapoint you. Because is not that bad, im going to give it 3 stars.