BESTIÁRIO

Another great album from Mexico!

This time, i am talking about Metaconciencia, which was formed in 1996 as a trio and then another musician joined the band, but it was until 2003 when they released their first material.

Ricardo Moreno (Iconoclasta) and Francisco Estrada are both guitar players, and i can guarantee that the sound of those guitar always together is excellent in this album, Jose Ramon Porrua in the bass, and Carlos Bonegui on drums complete this group, which make instrumental music, i mean without vocals. They have been influenced by King Crimson (you will notice it in the album) and by The Flower Kings among others,in fact Metaconciencia has opened for TFK and have had some rehearsal together, you can go to their website and listen to those songs wih TFK and Tomas Bodin.

Bestiario is the name of this CD, with an hour of great music divided in 9 one-word name songs, well actually there`s a date as a title, since this first song you will notice the way of the album, guitar oriented with excellent solos and complex arrangements, but also they have a jazzy side and even an spanish side when listening to the acoustic guitar, a think that a enjoy a lot is the fact of improvisation which is notable in the album. Actually i think the first song is one of the best without a doubt, if you like guitar oriented albums you might enjoy it, but it`s not for everyone, but not the guitars are the only good think, the bass playing is very good and you will notice it in the third song, drums playing is also great, so i could say that the music done here is pure brilliance, closer to virtuosism because some of the guitar tunes and solos could contest with any great guitar player, and the sound is clear between the guitars, whici make it better i think. The complexity of the songs could make them boring to any person wchich dont appreciate prog music, but to us it could be so loved and appreciated of course, another thing that i can say is that there are also sudden changes in some songs that are jazzy but in a minute becomes heavier, and others viceversa but always with the predominant sound of both Moreno`s and Estrada`s acoustic and electric guitars, in the fourth song you can have a moment of calm and a slow nice song. The title track is another awesome song but this time showing us a darker and atomespheric beggining which suddenly turns to a symphonic song, this time keyboards appears with a classic 70`s sound, this epic could blow your mind away.

I would say that this is not a masterpiece, because it doesn`t fill me entirely and because some passages are quite alike between a couple of songs, but after all i HIGHLY recommend it to any prog fan, very interesting, complex and creative album,lovable to any guitar lover, 4 stars this time.

Another of those unknown Mexican albums, a worth addition to your collection.

Metaconciencia was a Mexican group, formed in 1996, fronted by two guitarists, Francisco Estrada and Ricardo Moreno.Bass duties were handed to Jose Ramon Porrua and the drum kit was tortured by Carlos Bonequi.A discovery of the Musea label, the Mexicans released their sole effort ''Bestiario'' in 2003.Moreno is responsible also for the few keyboard parts displayed in this album.

They sound some sort of a Latin version of KING CRIMSON and closer to the Chilean Prog scene, who are the leaders of this kind of complex prog sound with the electric guitar as the leading instrument.The album is split in two different forms.First one, consisting more or less of the first six pieces, is a largely electric, instrumental style with ROBERT FRIPP-like guitar parts, covering a range from Heavy to Jazz to Blues Rock, flavored by the usual presence of acoustic guitars, which are responsible for the Latin-spiced echoes of the album.Keyboards are basically absent and the music is an electroacoustic manifestation between Latin Music and cold Prog Rock with a jazzy rhythm section, passing through atmospheric dissonances and proposing often a very technical music with KING CRIMSON being the absolute reference point.From the 11-min. title-track and on things are going to change a bit.Because ''Bestiario'' sounds more of a Heavy-Symphonic Rock mix with Moreno taking his place behind the organ and Estrada offering another technical performance on electric guitars, the music of full of complex rhythms and changes, a bit more alive and rich, with a pretty dark and unique sound and offering even somekind of melody in the solos.''1899'' is some sort of intricate Prog Fusion in the vein of NATHAN MAHL and SPACED OUT with synths and electric guitars and an overall jazzy mood with echoes from KING CRIMSON, while ''Antartica'' is a good delivery on Psychedelic Fusion with a beautiful atmosphere, led by a constant rhythm pattern and changing parts on the solo guitar.

The band appeared to have been active for a few more years, but eventually the members took a permanent break with each of them working on their own career, leading to the demise of Metaconciencia.

Interesting mix of haunting KING CRIMSON-ian Heavy-Fusion with Latin acoustics.Not fully entertaining due to lack of some melodic content, but definitely convincing and rewarding.Recommended.