LA REENCARNACION DE MAQUIAVELO

Iconoclasta, again im reviewing an album by this great band, with the intention of "promote them", or at least to talk a bit about some good Mexican prog, with a bit of luck, some of the members would be interested in this band.

Iconoclasta is a pioneer of prog in Mexico, they started to play in 1980, but their first album was released until 1983 ( i think i have said this in my other Iconoclasta`s reviews), and that mid 80`s period was sadly their best period, they haven`t done another album like their magnific "Reminiscencis".

In 1992 was released "La Reencarnacion de Maquiavelo", album which has 8 tracks, all of them are good, but they can`t be considered as an outstanding tracks, there`s nothing to compare with "Reminiscencias" for example, (Reminiscencias is my fav album if you haven`t notice yet, so maybe that is the pont of comparision), it is not so explorative, not so creative, but of course this is NOt a bad album, so let`s start.

"Serenata o el Sabor Estable de la Persistencia", i really like the first track of the albums, is a preambleof what the album is about, and this is not the exception, this first song is full of keyboards and some strange guitar, Ricardo Ortegon has had always a particular style of guitar playign, which is healthy for the band, i think this is one of the best points, anyway, the song is good, but only good, nothign more.

"Fe de Credulos" has almost 10 minutes of great music, but not always the largest song is the best, i like it so much, because of it`s rare time signatures and the guitar again, there are not so many changes during the song, also it could be a bit boring for you.

"Amante Espiritual" , this is the first song with vocals, Nohemi D`Rubing is singing here, and as i have said in other reviews, i dont really like her voice, she`s a nice bassist, but as a singer, honestly i dont like her, maybe that is a bad point, musically the song is again, just good.

"Guerra Santa o el Glamour de las Armas" , returning to their protestant roots, maybe this song title is something like a parody or satire about war times and all that kind of things, it doens`t have lyrics, but i can imagine they focused in that topics, the song is great one of the best of the album, it starts with an "adhesive" keyboard sound, and during the song we can appreciate this time all the quality of the musicians, Victor Valdovinos is an excellent drummer, this track is particularly good.

"La Reencarnacion de Maquiavelo o el Valor de la Belleza", it reminds me to some weak Wakeman`s works, it has a pathetic and at the sime time a bit funny keyboard sound, here the bass is makyng the rythm, and maybe accompannying the keyboards, weak track IMO, the last part of the song is a bit better because of some guitar solos, but anyway...

"La Evolucion Humana es la Decadencia" is another nice track, this time i remind Focus (without flute), this is a nice song, mid tempo and without keyboards, instead of them we can appreciate the second guitar as a "background", it sounds a bit different from the other, and i think it also has a particular 90`s sound in some ways, another recommendable track.

"Quien Alcanza su Ideal" is a short but quite good track, in this time we can appreciate their Jazz influences, using a guest musician playing sax, it makes a different sound of course, and it is good (remember that Iconoclasta is clasified as a Jazz Rock Fusion band) here is a clear example, despite im almost sure that Symphonic is what better describes them.

"Sinfonia Introspectiva" is not the best song to finish an album, also and despite it`s guitar sound, i find it boring, this is when you expect something different, or something good to finish an album, but sadly it isnt.

After all, i do not consider it a bad album, not a masterpiece, not a good addition, but it is a good album, that`s all 3 stars!