CHERCÁN

Out of the ashes of Hominído and La Desooorden, Chilean drummer extraordinaire Rodrigo González Mera erects a new band of very competent, even virtuosic, musicians. Recorded in Santiago and Valdivia, mixed in Coyhaique, and mastered in Santiago and Coyhaique Chile, Chercán's debut album was released on March 4, 2025. Chile is a big country! Valdivia is 855 km from Santiago and they're both fairly centrally located within the tremendous length that is Chile's length (4,270 km). (Your geography lesson for the day.) (Consider yourself blessed and anointed.)

1. "La culpa" (6:51) a very powerful, well put together, dynamic song that sounds like a combination of Francesco Zago's NOT A GOOD SIGN and Norway's SEVEN IMPALE. Wonderful! (14.5/15)

2. "Caen las hojas blancas" (5:46) sounds like a combination of THIN LIZZY and BLACK MIDI's music with Alessandro Calandriello's vocals singing KING CRIMSON's "One More Red Nightmare" then taken to near-death metal extremes with growl vocals and heavy-riffing syncopation in the instrumental passages taking us out to the end. I also love the shrieking saxophone in this end section. Awesome! (9.3333/10)

3. "Kalimba" (4:54) yes, it's founded on some kalimba play (the instrument actually remains in the mix--though almost getting buried--throughout the song's five minutes.) This song sounds more like something from Alessandro Calandriello's other band, LA COSCIENZA DI ZENO--at least until the fourth minute when it goes instrumental, then it spills over again into SEVEN IMPALE territory. (Since I love all three of these bands, Chercán really can't go wrong!) Martín's singing voice weakens a little toward the end as he tries to maintain singing the many long notes at such a high-volume. (9.125/10)

4. "Desolación (En)" (1:10) a wonderful string quartet interlude (which turns out to be an introduction to the next song, "Tiempos paralelos," which it feeds into. (5/5)

5. "Tiempos paralelos" (5:13) way more delicate and sensitive than the first two songs: kind of like some of the beautiful music the band AISLES has done over the past 20 years. Here the band reaches back into their cultural traditions for some very Andean-flavored music; even the instrumentation choices reflect their native acoustic instrumental preferences. What's really cool about this song is the slow build in the middle--which is greatly assisted by the pounding big-drum percussion play--that turns into the awesome proggy crescendo and finale. It's also so beautifully engineered and rendered! This is a song with which I have great trouble finding any flaw. (10/10)

6. "Las mentiras del muro" (5:14) a percussion-dominated and -dictated soundscape that reminds me more of Spanish band, ZA!, over which Martín's raspy/scratchy voice yells and screeches (also losing a little strength the longer he is asked to maintain this intensity). It sounds so weird to hear the saxophone sounding so smooth and beautiful--moreso than Martín's voice! Also, it feels/sounds like an unusual type of saxophone that Matías Bahamondes is playing. I like it! Martín hits some very high notes around 4:30 as the tribal rhythms around him become amplified by the electric guitar power chords. (8.875/10)

7. "Relato de una obsesión. Part I: Quimera" (6:50) it sounds heavy and ominous from the start but it ends up being very smooth and steadying; I feel as if I'm sitting in a cave being guided by a shaman into/through some mind-altering ritual under the influence of psychotropic medicine. I love it! I feel drugged! And so happy for it! (14.5/15)

8. "Relato de una Obsesión. Part II: El orate" (6:04) The trip continues but in the first two minutes the shaman begins prepping his subjects for proceeding "solo"--untethering us with the loud, heavy SEVEN IMPALE-like music into a rollercoaster ride through a high-speed, high-powered wormhole of demonic overstimulation, confusion, and horror. (9/10)

9. "Colores" (4:19) brushed drum play rendered up close in my head-phoned ears sound wonderful as they open this song. Soothing guitar chords, arpeggi, saxophone notes, and wordless vocalese work their way into a beautiful weave that the band carries forward for about a minute before the music shifts to dreaminess for Martín's first worded vocals. So beautiful! The guitar and strings interplay so beautifully. The percussion play is so hypnotic, as is the sax play and the whole woven tapestry! Awesome! What a gorgeous, soothing end to an awesome, awesome album! (9.75/10)

Total time: 44:21

Martín Peña possesses a great voice and he not only really knows how to use it but does an amazing job of conveying perfect commitment of both feeling and genuinely-enthusiastic focus to each lyric. Whoever is doing the songwriting, they have a great feel for structure and flow. Whoever is doing the recording and sound engineering is world class. And the team doing the performing sound so well-focused, so "together" in their commitment and timing that I find myself in awe of the level of collaborative amalgamation I feel: these songs sound and feel as if they've been made by one organism not a band of separate musicians!

A/five stars; an indisputable masterpiece of full-spectrum progressive rock music. It has been a LONG time since I've heard a new album that is this good!

From the serpentine beauty of Chile comes this impressive sonic surprise, already gathering rave reviews from the global prog community (which seemingly enjoys sharing the latest buzz) and surely destined to a most successful future. Why, may you ask? At first listen, this veteran prog musicologist rarely gets to sit back in amazement and wonder in silence at first and later out loud, what the hell is this? I am never prone to cussing or even occasionally shaking my head in bewilderment, but Chercan has certainly qualified to bowl me over! Led by a merciless drummer /percussionist in Rodrigo Gonzalez Mera and a robust bass guitar held by Simon Catalan, while top- notch guitarist Roberto Faundez (My nickname would be 'Frippo') and Matias Bahamondes wielding a wonderfully neurotic saxophone, both add all the fiery molten lava soloing one could dream of in the best of nightmares. Vocalist Martin Pena sings like a man possessed and provides added guitar mania. Guests include a string trio.

Exploding like the Chaiten volcano in the Southern Andes, "La Culpa" is a monstrous slap in the face, a hysterically magnificent torrent of Magma-esque fury (not necessarily the band but the molten fire) that settles into sudden introspection, where the fervent glow of Martin's voice soothes the scalding pyre of sound. But it's only a brief reprieve, as the bulldozer guitar barrage reignites into turbo charged vehemence. It's entirely the band's fault, tectonic and strategic as they are wanting to disturb, shock and perhaps even provoke. Martin screams as if the devil was chasing his tail.

Will our chilenos quiet down now, well it's hard to predict, as the speed at which they shuffle from vigor to smoothness on "Caen Las Hojas Blancas" is unpredictably dizzying, 'Frippo' Faundez manhandles his fretboard with impunity verging on hysteria, as if barking at Matias's brass reptile. Hints of experimental (mostly mental) King Crimson definitely come to mind, the Mel Collins-era in particular, the saxophone utterly devastating! I need to check my heart rate as I feel like a F1 engine overheating. Perhaps a week's rest in Vina del Mar might help. "Kalimba" kindly keeps the pace a tad more sedate but only a tease, for as soon as that nasty twitching guitar starts throttling up, the tempo increases once again, egged on by Martin's pleading vocals that exude pain, suffering and revolt. "Desolacion" is where the string trio settles the sorrow factor with a serene moment o reflection on the previous devastation.

It segues lovingly into "Tiempos Paralelos", a hauntingly gorgeous flutter of ornate calm, acoustic instruments galore, cymbals for percussion, delicate sax work and a slightly more subdued emerging bolero-like beat and scat singing that merge into a vortex of symphonic bliss that came as a complete revelation, closed off by a hazy revisit by the strings, bidding adios! Definitely a highlight track.

Plunging back into their signature percussive heavy style, "Las Mentiras del Muro " has the guitars and the drums working in tandem in whipping up a wall (muro) of dense authority, Simon's rubbery bass provides the much- needed foundation for a sax sortie on the softer side of reverie and melancholia. Chercan cannot help relapsing into boisterous flareups of unforeseen irrationality, as it's their trademark feature. Nothing here is remotely close to prog by numbers. Cohesive abstraction are perhaps better suited words to describe this whirlwind.

And to further the need to inflict unexpected joy on avid listeners worldwide, the two part 12 minute+ suite "Relato de Una Obsesion" naturally comes as an extension of their 'keep you on the edge' methodology . "Quimera" suggests a 6-minute journey into the vast and breathtaking expanses of the Atacama Desert, situated in Northern Chile, a plateau that is as arid as it is beautiful. The second section "El Orate" is where the harsh realities of such a desolate climate and topography can get the senses into a state of obsessive frenzy, where guitars, sax, bass, drums and vocals unite as one, in brazen defiance of any challenges nature wishes to impose. Incredible music.

The onus is now on a peaceful finale, all shimmering light and glittering "Colores", a hauntingly serene arrangement that defies all the previous norms established so forcefully up to this point. The acoustic instruments, the delicate strings and the percolating percussive elements, and a vocalist exuding emotional release all combine to finish of this extraordinarily unique recording.

The only comment I can possibly rely on as proof of the impact it had on me is that in a musical world that has assuredly played every note and combination of notes once or many times before, Chercan comes across as a rare bird in the progressive field. Yet, by all accounts, it's a rather common one in Chile, and allegedly very human- friendly. We are so blessed.

4.5 Andean aviaries.

It isn't everyday for a band to reach out to me in order to review something from their catalog. However, I suppose my name has reached a few figures in the prog rock community, as a new band hailing from Chile has requested I check out their self-titled debut record. Now, that alone got me intrigued, and certainly set an expectation for what is to come. However, what I didn't expect was for this debut to be really awesome!

Debuts nowadays tend to be pretty high quality, since bands nowadays kind of know what they want, but obviously they can change over time and improve on what they have made in the past. I doubt Chercán will be any different, but dang they came in swinging! From the first track alone, I knew I was in for a great time, with a great mix of old school jazzy prog rock, with a more modern day experimental edge that one could see from the modern age of rock music.

While I feel like this is too modern feeling to be coined retro prog, one can tell this group was inspired by a few notable legacy bands from South America, namely I can pinpoint inspiration coming from Invisible, Bubu, and La Máquina de Hacer Pájaros. However, they don't just take their styles and run. No. They take those styles, and do so many backflips with them that they turn it into something super original: a dark jazzy escapade that is rich within bombastic symphonics.

Matías Bahamondes' saxophone skills certainly won me over here. In fact, the whole band is very skilled, which surprised me a ton since most of the members, to my knowledge, never played in any other band. Which just baffled me because this album feels like it was made by a group of people that at least had a few years under their belts, but no! These are newbies! Well, actually, one isn't, that being Rodrigo González Mera, as he was the drummer for the band Homínido. However, Homínido hadn't made any albums since 2016, so Chercán is his first project in almost a decade, so if anything he's practically playing it fresh.

Funny thing too, he was actually the guy who messaged me on RYM that asked me to review this record. So, hey, that's pretty cool.

But genuinely, this debut is amazing. It genuinely surprised me the first time I heard it, and it still surprises me now. It is just a genuinely wonderful record. The only thing that sort of holds it back, at least for me anyways, is that they sometimes can dip a bit too much into a sort of King Crimson-esque sound. Not to say there is anything wrong with pulling from one of the greats, but I think the intro to Kalimba feels just a bit too much like the beginning to Larks' Tongues In Aspic Pt. 1.

But minor nitpick aside, Chercán is certainly a band I will be on the look for in the coming years. If this is their debut, then who knows what their magna carta will be? Latin American prog will always be a guilty pleasure for me, so seeing it still going strong in this modern age of progressive rock music blesses my heart! Genuinely listen to this one, you won't leave disappointed.

Best tracks: La culpa, Caen las hojas blanca, Las mentiras del muro, Relato de una obsesión. Parte II: El orate

worst track: Desolación (En)