CLIMAX

This magnificent trio from Bolivia were much more influenced by the playing of artists like Hendrix, Blackmore and Budgie rather than the progressive rock presented by Yes or ELP, they just wanna rock. The music is leaning heavily on the wild guitar played by Jose Eugenio leaving drummer Alvaro Cordova no choice but to follow him on their quest to fast-madness city. The music is mainly going on one direction and is not trying to branch out to much, they are certainly not trying to be the world's biggest rock band, although they do have the right chops for it. The compositions here were written as guide lines to the band to jam on, the riffs are fast and rocky and always leading to some crazy jaming with killer guitar soloing. A nother refreshing addition are the percussions accompanying the music and giving it a southern american tribal vibe, really cool although in some cases are useless and does not add anything, they should have censored it a little bit to a greater effect, but i don't mind, it is better than not having it at all.

What we have here in this short LP are six compositions, all are played with enormous amount of energy and passion. The playing is fast by all members and even if the rhythm is slowing down the drums are still filling the gaps with some great drum fills. Drums are always improvising and always doing something, never just providing a beat, which can come out a little tedious at times, That doesn't mean the musicians are just pounding away without consideration, the compositions are good and the playing is still very good. Guitars has some good riffing and the solos are furious and fiery, classic 70's stuff! Oh ...I like it. "Pachacuttec" is the album's opener and although it starts very promising, the band just didn't know how to go from one idea to the next so they just faded away in the middle of the song and turned right away with something different, stating that they weren't that creative or experienced in writing an effective essential prog piece, still as a whole this track actually works fine and the music is good. "Gusano Mecanico" the album's title song can be considered as the highlight and their most progy track, since it does switch from one part to the other and have an overall progy feel. Since the drums are filling an importanat role here, the band thought it would be wise to include a drum solo track, like we didn't hear enough drums already. I'm glad it didn't lasted more than 3 minutes, as good as it is. The closing track actually shows some diversity, featuring a jazzy tune and a more relaxed atmosphere, with some nice piano.

The album has "debut" written all over it, since it is fun, energetic but still contains all the mistakes a band can do on their first album, which is fine and acceptable. They should have worked on and polished their compositions more, before recording the album. But still the album is a lot of fun to listen to, so if you are a guitar freak or just like high energy music without being so progressive, this is a good find. I can understand the 3 stars rating in this case but i gotta give them a little bit more credit than they got, since this is very enjoyable and my kind of music.

So placed it on my old turntable expecting some Andean Rock with the class of Los Kjarkas, but the explanation of why it was gathering moth in a box fell by it's own weight, the album is absolutely amateur to say the best, I honestly don't know why it was added, because it's some sort of very late Psyche, with some leanings towards folk, but with an incredible lack of imagination and no Prog connection or originality.

"Pachacutec (Rey de Oro)" (Pachacutec King of Gold) opens the album and the first question comes to my mind...What are this guys doing?

It's obvious that they are trying to play of Andean Hard Rock, but the folk component is so poor that gets lost inside the horrendous distorted guitars, there's absolutely no coherence or structure, they seem to jam without any purpose or idea, it's clear that the guitarist is a Jimmy Hendrix wannabe, but of course very far from the original.

When I listen "Transfusión de Luz" (Light Transfusion), I wonder why they took the time to write it as a separate song from "Pachacutec ...", they could just had made the first track longer and add some vocals, it's exactly the same chaos, but even worst because the vocals.

By this point a second question arises...Why did they credit keyboards if I can hear none? It's just a noisy guitar shredding and a fast drummer who abuses of the cymbals.

"Cuerpo Eléctrico - Embrión de Reencarnación" (Electric Body - Reincarnation Embryo) is as lack of sense as the name of the track, the song is more calmed but the drummer continues playing as in the same tempo as in the first two tracks, at last I can listen a bit of keyboards lost behind the loud guitar but nothing special.

Close to the end there's a break that seems to announce a radical change, but it's just a loud Blues that you can listen in any pub...Where is the Prog?

"Gusano Mecánico" (Mechanic Worm) seems to be a multi part 10 minutes epic (well at least in the credits), but still I don't know what this guys are trying to do, an Emerson inspired keyboard gives some hopes, but the drummer continues playing the first track (as he has done up to this point), and ruins the effort of the band do something different......It's evident that trying is not a synonymous of achieving, because the multi parts can't be noticed and the sound is as basic and loud as in the rest of the album.

"Prana - Energía Vital" (Prana - Vital Energy) is a pleonasm, because Prana means Vital Energy in Sanskrit, but it's a pompous name for a drum solo of 3 minutes.

The album ends with "Cristales Soñadores" (Dreamy Crystals), a jazzy but repetitive track with nothing special or worth to be mentioned, they base their sound in a couple of chords repeated ad nauseam while the guitar keeps jamming without any idea of what they are trying.

I won't insist in my question about the Prog connection of this band, because everybody in the mid 70's had some relation with our beloved genre, and I respect the teams opinion, but I have to say that hardly heard an album with less imagination than this one, loud, chaotic and lack of originality, will go with 2 stars, even when 1.5 would be the correct rating.

But there is definitely something else going on here. You can let the fumbling grandeur of 'Pachacuttec' roll over you but you'd miss the subtle Latin hints, continual variance, and Alavaro Cordova's not so subtle Keith Moon drums. You may dismiss 'Tranfusioin de Luz' as mere Page-baiting with its near-distaterous tempo and awful guitar solos, and you'd be right. And 'Cuerpo Electrico' sounds like all the B-list heavy psych you ever heard rolled into one unsure cement block of love, face-blushing mistakes and all. But then there's the 3 part title cut and suddenly guitarist/singer Jose Eugenio's keyboard breaks out the Keith Emerson and we have a whole new ball game, a heavy prog opus in miniature that belies this band's shameless lack of polish. It makes us realize there was mediocre Prog that still cooked and had hidden away in it something for those wishing to dig a little deeper, made by unassuming musicians who wanted to be part of what was happening. The piece is an epic in a toilet and Cordova, Eugenio and 12-string bass player Javier Soldias were ambitious if woefully inadequate. The result is rather fascinating, a brief meeting of the salty dog bluesmen of the 1960s and art rock sophistry that was to follow.

Only recommended to those willing to jump into this ice-cold water but if your taste for raucous and leathery heavy prog of the vintage variety needs saitiating, check em out one Sunday afternoon.