PATRIMONIO

Tryo's third album is certainly a most valuable patrimony from Chile to the world of prog rock: "Patrimonio" shows a band that has already dealt with their influences in a constructive way, and finally conquered their own ultimate voice. The dose of sonic power in this album's repertoire is not as directly overwhelming as in their impressive debut recording, yet it would be inaccurate to state that their sound is less strong or less energetic. On the contrary, their musical power is as astounding as always: only the threesome have grown wiser through the years, and this fact led them to incorporate a wider array of musical sources in a most coherent and skillful manner. As a living proof for this, the listener is first offered the four part suite 'Valparaiso Patrimonio' that kicks off the album: starting with a predominant jazz-pop mood in track 1, the next three combine the academic exquisiteness of chamber music and the special magic of Latin American folklore. Basically, the trio's main intention here is explore more meticulously into their acoustic sensibility in order to polish their skill and finesse. and the result is unequivocal - they succeeded at that! More of this comes later in 'Danza del Furor', an incredibly delicate tour- de-force of cello, guitar and vibes. This somewhat softened attitude is soon abandoned in favor of the elaboration of density, tension and electric fire: 'Camino' is a brief ad-lib soundscape of guitar, bass and cymbals that serves as a prelude to the up tempo ambience of 'Contrastes', a compromise of hard rock and funky-driven jazz with a slight Crimsonian twist. It's such a pity that this good piece is so short (it only lasts 2 minutes and a half, actually shorter than the previous number). But that's not the problem with the following track, the much stronger 'Recuadros', which in my opinion stands out as the most brilliant gem in the album: this piece shows how well has the band's renewed exquisiteness has served in order to allow the band develop their own prog voice regarding their electric facet. The same goes for 'Estudio' (again, so good and too short), 'Justicia', 'Grietas', and the Led Zep-esque concise closure aptly entitled 'Epílogo'. Overall balance: an excellent prog rock repertoire split between the heat of rock, oiled by the clever dexterity of jazz, and the candid beauty of acoustic sensibility, seasoned by chamber stuff. "Patrimonio" must be enjoyed as what it is, a manifesto of artistic maturity, a maturity soon to be confirmed and enhanced in their following album "Dos Mundos" - but that's another story.

These three guys from Chile are playing a fantastic, very original, versatile and energetic progressive rock influenced by many sources, King Crimson being only one of them. Here on their third release they managed to merge these multiple influences to their very own and refreshing style.

Like their previous works Patriomonio is an all instrumental album apart of one song and some very average mainly spoken vocals on a few tracks. The first four tracks are movements of the conceptual suite Valparaison Patrimonio about the port of Valparaiso, as a soundtrack for its presentation to the UNESCO to consider this city as an architectural patrimony of the humanity. First part starting with some street noise is a quite spacy piece reminding very much to Ozric Tentacles/Djam Karet in a more smooth way. On this album they're adding again a cello to their usual line-up of electric/ acoustic guitar, bass, and drums what they already experienced successfully on their previous album. The suite is dominated by this instrument throughout along with delicate arrangements and atmospheric pieces. Next track Camino serves as a transition to their usual energetic sound which is presented by the following two songs being again a bit Tentacles-reminiscent mixed with some complex fusion rock. After a short piece with Fripp-ish guitar play and an avantgardistic rendition of an excerpt from Olivier Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time their sound becomes somewhat harder for the last three tracks which are electric guitar-driven hard fusion rock numbers. This gradual shift towards harder stuff is actually quite enjoyable I have to say.

CONCLUSION

Musicianship on this very well produced album is top notch. Guitar and bass playing are at some points reminiscent of Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson showing at others the spirit of Tony Levin and Robert Fripp. Patrimonio is an absolute esssential album in any good progrock collection and should not be missed especially by all fans of Ozric Tentacles/Djam Karet. 4 very clear stars!

This is the third album by the Chilean band Tryo, it's from 1999. The first track sounds tight and dynamic featuring a buzzing bass and phased guitar, good swinging and pleasant guitar-oriented rock. Then three tracks that have a warm, folky atmosphere: acoustic guitar, marimba, percussion and an often wailing cello. The second part of this CD concludes with music in the vein of King Crimson, both the dark and compelling "Red"- climates as the 'Nineties-era' featuring a propulsive and dynamic sound with Fripperian guitar work (some howling and biting soli), strong drum beats and powerful bass play. The interplay from the members is amazing but at some moments the compositions tend too sound a bit similar. Nonetheless, this is an interesting band with good musicians.

TRYO are a power trio from Chile who blend Jazz, spacey soundscapes, and flat out heavy Rock music on this recording. There is so much variety on this album, and it did take some time for this to grow on me, but now I love this band. This is complex and enjoyable music that is pretty much all instrumental except for one track.

The album opens with a four part suite that is about the Port of Valparaiso. It starts off with "Valparaiso Psicodelico" as we hear different sounds from the sea and the city. 1 1/2 minutes in it we get some music as a spacey atmosphere arrives.The bass is prominant in this spacey tune as cello comes in late. "Juegos" opens with samples of children as strummed acoustic guitar and cello lead the way. "Puerto" is another acoustic song as cello, guitar and drums provide the music as the song opens with the sounds of ships and sea gulls. The final song of the suite is "Marina". It opens with the sounds of someone under water. This is another acoustic track. The acoustic guitar melodies are quite intricate and the cello helps fill out the sound. The song ends as it began.

"Camino" is a short spacey song,while "Contrastes" gives us some energy for the first time on this album. An uptempo song that reminds me of RUSH until it veers off to a jazzy direction. Some great guitar and bass follow. "Requadros" continues the jazzy music until we get a heavy passage 2 1/2 minutes in. Nice. "Estudio" is the first song where I hear KING CRIMSON-like sounds. This is one of my favourites on the album, but it's way too short. "Danza Del Furor" consists of cello, guitar and what sounds like xylophone. "Justicia" is my favourite song on this album. This is also the longest track. It has a nice, heavy and melodic soundscape that picks up speed 3 minutes in. What an amazing song ! "Grieta" is another inspiring song that just rocks ! This one has vocals on it with some ripping guitar melodies. "Epilogo" is a short heavy song.

As I said in the beginning this album has some good variety on it, and these guys can play with the best of them. 4 solid stars.