Poseidotica

— First review of this album —

Poseidótica is one of Argentina’s most active bands nowadays. They have caught the attention of many experimental and heavy rock e-zines with their debut album “Intramundo”, and currently they are on the verge of recording what will be their second album. What we have here from them in “Intramundos” is revealing enough as to state that their overall psychedelic sound (old school and contemporary stoner) bears a very interesting feel, especially in those passages where they show their Crimsonian and space-rock influences well merged in the dual guitar interplaying. “Intramundo” is a concept-disc revolving around the conception of water as the primary source of cosmic and human realities: in this way, the struggle of man to overcome the negative forces that he himself created on this face of the Earth, increasingly dry and sterile, becomes the struggle to recover the essential contact with water. In connection with this idea, the electrifying energy instilled in the jams and expansions of the tracks’ motifs reflects the power to survive in the fight against modern society’s trend of destruction. ‘Hidrofobia’ is an explicit opener full of rocking power, including some spacey sections in order to forge a dynamic variety in the middle of a compact consistency. The final section is a mix of tribal cadences and blues-rock. ‘Paralexis’ keeps the hardness going up, with its metal rock-meets-Hendrix-meets Guru Guru attitude: a highlight, indeed. ‘Acuático’ offers a change in mood, going for a more hypnotic ambience quite related to post-rock, although the typical stoner trend is ever present in the guitar riffs. ‘Superastor’ is perhaps the most melodically articulated track in the album, including quotations of a theme by Ástor Piazzolla (a respected, unquestioned pioneer of tango-fusion): the agile harmonies and solidly constructed leads are manager in a very fluid fashion. This is also an opportunity for the rhythm duo to explore some jazz- oriented cadences. Continuing with this deviation from the band’s usual heavy psychedelic trend. ‘Las Cuatro Estaciones’ reveals itself as the most versatile composition in the album: it starts with old-school jazz, then turns into mysterious atmospheres, holding a bridge toward a more trippy pasaje; the alter serves also as a bridge toward the closing section, which delivers a slighly less harsh sound although it is clearly rooted in psychedelic prog. Awesome! And things continue to be awesome with another highlight, ‘Aquatalan’. This one picks up the etheral moods of track 3 and translates them into harsher sonorities, which ultimately build up to an exciting climax. Despite the sense of fury prevalent here, the guitar solos actually bear a joyous feel, stating a counterpart to the basic density – like I said, this is a highlight. ‘La Nave Nodriza’ has a similar structure to the previous number, that is, bearing a first section based on the organization of eerie textures, and then going to a more powerful second section in which the musicians get to fill all spaces. One major feature in this track is the dialogue between the two guitars and bass in the second section’s main body. The last two pieces sort of recreate a condensation of the album’s most recurrent ambiences. ‘Tantra’ is full of serenity, which stays patenet even in those occasional moments when things get an increased energy: it’s all really controlled, and mostly subtle. This modus operandi allows this track to become the perfect anticipation to the closer ‘Mantra’, which recapitulates the structure of ‘Aquatalan’ and ‘Madre Nodriza’. The explosive 4/4-7/8 climatic jam is a very coherent finale for a repertoire ruled by power and atmosphere. “Intramundo” is material proof that Poseidótica has lots of energy and dynamics in store to keep on providing exciting music to psychedelic-friendly prog listeners all over the world. In a word, this is an excellent album.

Posted Monday, December 10, 2007, 10:18 EST
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