LUZ INTERNA

New music echoing in Mexico.

Some years ago I could attend to a concert in which a bunch of bands were playing covers from their different idols, and the band that closed the night (the main act, actually) were Ekos, who as you can imagine, offered a tribute to Pink Floyd. I was happy because I love PF a lot, but also because the band's performances was great, with high quality and a cool choice of songs, I remember they even played Rick Wright's "Breakthrough", which made me smile and feel sort of nostalgia.

Curiously, I met Ekos' keyboard player in a Riverside concert some days ago, and she told me they had released their first album, but not as a tribute band, but as an original one, something that made me feel interested, so I ask her for a CD and I can say I am satisfied with the result. Their debut album is entitled "Luz Interna", features 6 songs and a total time of 60 minutes, and though their PF roots are undeniable, the music does not get pigeonholed. It kicks off with "Obscuridad", and I cannot deny the first minute it reminded me of Floyd's "One of these days", however, the music changes into heavy prog in the second minute, with the entrance of drums and prominent keyboards. The voice appears after four minutes, but only for an instant, because later the instrumental passage explodes, creating a climax and a salad of nuances, I love the keyboard work and the guitar riffs. Great opener track.

"Luz interna" has a sweet start, very soft, calm and melancholic; after a minute, male vocals appear and add a mellow touch to the already mellow sound. The music flows and progresses little by little, so then we can feel a spacey touch made by keys, while strings become a bit intense, creating all of them an emotional track. Nice, but definitely not my favorite of the album. The next piece is "Mutación", the start is awesome, vertiginous, full of textures, nuances and colors, it is bombastic so one can feel excited while listening to it, but it finishes after a minute and a half, when the music changes completely, slows down, giving a moment of relaxation with vocals, nice drums and a soft keyboard atmosphere, this structure continues at least for 5 minutes more, until it begins to add heavier and tenser sounds finishes with an explosion. Honestly, it is a great song, challenging, but I would have preferred it without that contrast, I mean, I would have left out the soft sound and let the music run in that heavy and bombastic sound.

"Rostro oculto" has a very soft mood at least for the first three minutes; the music is calm, tranquil, we can hear a sweet post-rock like guitar playing here and there, while bass and keys appear in a really discrete way, accompanying the voice. Then the intensity increases a little bit for a minute until it slows down again and returns to its original form, creating a beautiful instrumental passage in the last minutes, bringing some memories back to my mind. "Huida del Infierno" contrasts with the previous one, here they offer once again that powerful and bombastic sound of a heavy-symphonic band. The composition is wonderful, very thoughtful and challenging, none of the instruments are lost in space, all of them have something to share and together give a great result, I like the multiple changes they bring, with inclusion of new atmospheres, moods, and impressions. After three minutes it becomes faster, I imagine myself in vertigo, running scared for my life; when you imagine things, then the music has succeeded with you, as in this case.

The album finishes with its long epic, the 21-minute length "Apocalipsis", in which we will find a saucerful of secrets (pun intended), elaborated in order to please the strictest progressive rock fan. Though this is the longest track, I will not describe all its length, just a few passages if not this review would be endless. I would like to say that Ekos has a point when they decided to make much more instrumental music that with voice, I like the voice but it is not essential though it adds a special flavor in some moments, such as in its first appearance in this track. Later the music flows, makes a lot of things, creates stories, passages, moments of life that can describe us, you just have to let your imagination fly, the music will do the rest.

A great debut album by this young Mexican band, I foresee moments of success and I hope their music can reach more and more people from the whole globe. My final grade will be 4 solid stars.

Enjoy it!