TORMENTES

Tormentes is the debut album from Spanish fusion band Gurth. Tormentes is a really enjoyable album and the music is influenced by symphonic/ eclectic prog in addition to fusion. The album was released in the beginning of 2008.

The music is a kind of easy listening fusion that is not very complex yet challengin enough to be on prog archives. This is both a good and a bad thing. The music is mostly instrumental but there are a few vocal parts here and there. The vocals are mostly sung in Spanish but I think I heard a few English gloses as well. All songs are good but very few really stand out as memorable or special. Somnis Lliures which starts the album and the ninth song Truita De Tortuga are a bit different though as they draw influences from eighties King Crimson with the fast complex guitar playing. One of the best things about Tormentes is that the musical ideas never outstays their welcome and the songs have many parts. It´s a very melodic album and I never once thought about skipping anything.

The musicianship is great and even though we´ve heard it all before it´s still very enjoyable. I would call this music pleasant.

The production is good and leaves room for the different instruments to unfold.

Beautiful cover artwork ( Picasso inspired collage).

Fusion will never be my favorite type of music but this is easy listening fusion and somehow I´m able to enjoy this much more than some of the more hardcore jazz fusion bands that tend to be really hard to get into. This is the kind of album you put on a hot summer night and drink cold white wine while you eat salmon or lobster. A real summer album if there ever was one. An therein lies the problem with the music on Tormentes. It works a bit too well as background music. I still think it´s an album that deserves 3 stars. Pleasant and enjoyable but lacks a bit artistic depth.