LA LEYENDA DE LA MANCHA

Hahahahahahahahahahaha!!! What a hilarious album! Mago de Oz may be a commercial band in Spain, but here in the American midwest this stuff is a bit of a novelty, and a rather entertaining one at that.

Aside from the little snippet of Brahms on the second track, there is little to this album that could be considered progressive, but then again I wouldn’t call it folk either, but that’s what it gets labeled at times. I just finished re-reading Don Quixote about a month ago for the first time in many years, and despite the sometimes annoyingly insignificant details, it is still one of the few true classic works of modern times. Well, so much for reverent representation of the classics! Mago de Oz rip into the staid and pitifully dignified character of Señor Quixote and his inept sidekick Sancho beginning with the album’s artwork, and don’t let up until the final chords of the music fade away. This is not your grandfather’s vision of the old windmill-lancing knight!

Musically this is a real hodge-podge, mixing Celtic violin (gotta’ love that violin!), alternately tapping and shredding metal guitar, boisterous Spanish vocals, and a persistent metal rhythm, all while bastardizing the story of the knight whose gourd is protected by the shiny wash basin of a barber. Truth be told, I’m not even sure some of the song lyrics are proper Spanish, or at least I can’t quite decipher some of them. But no matter, this is a bundle of entertainment for an otherwise boring evening.

The influences are pretty apparent, including several almost blatant ripoffs of some of the finest Ritchie Blackmore riffs from any number of Rainbow classics; a little bit of Zeppelin’s pomp; the distinctively melodic metal chaos of Iron Maiden; maybe some Flogging Molly; and one tune (“El Pacto”) that sounds like Loverboy with a Latin Mike Reno front man. Priceless!

I don’t really know what to make of these guys, but I’ll give them credit for being awesomely entertaining. One note about the acoustic guitar work as well – this is about the least Latin-sounding acoustic guitar I’ve ever heard. More like Neil Young in places than Gypsy Kings, really. Good stuff.

The highlight is probably “Requiem”, where it gets difficult to discern the guitar from the violin at times, and the eventually building tempo just kicks ass. Vocalist José manages to sound like a slightly lower-key rap version of Ronnie James Dio, and pulls it off with gusto.

Like I said, this isn’t prog music, but it sure is fun to listen to. I’m glad to have this in my collection, and recommend it to fans of bands like Rhapsody, metal fans, and anyone with a sense of humor when it comes to music. Four stars.

peace