LOS ELEMENTALES

The seventh studio album released by this amazing band of virtuosic musicians from Buenos Aires.

- "Elemental De Tierra" : 1. "Gob (Maestro-Mago De Los Gnomos)" (5:58) awesome opeing with some very impressive drums-and-percussion interplay with distant saxophone and Fender Rhodes adding accents in the backgrround. At the very end of the first minute the band shifts into a punctuated Mahavishnu/RTF-like performance of electronic instruments. Man! This drummer is so good! (And his drums are recorded so perfectly for this kind of dynamic power Jazz-Rock Fusion!) Surprisingly, Ara Tokatllian's tenor saxophone takes the first significant solo--really flying off into near-Coltrane free jazz realms with his reckless abandon! But the support crew keeps me well engaged--and makes Ara's craziness quite tolerable. Bass player Guillermo Bordarampé is also quite impressive, but the work of percussionist Jose Luis Perez may rival that of both Ara's sax and his own drumming! It's really hard to imagine Third Wave Power Jazz-Rock Fusion being any better than this! (10/10) 2. "Destilando El Perfume De Los Minerale"s (4:58) with the gentle piano and flute opening to this it's hard to fathom its supposed-connection to the previous song (within the umbrella of the "Elemental de tierra" suite title). Vocals and soaring saw-synth enter with Guillermo's melodic bass as Ara's piano and synths expand their involvement beneath the singing. There is some feeling of RPI bands like PFM and Maxophone as well as Chick Corea in this as well as some KHAN! Pretty but nothing as Earth-shattering as the opener. (8.875/10)

- "Elemental Del Fuego" : 3. "Cristalizando Los Rayos Del Sol" (4:26) the heavier side of Jazz-Rock Fusion, bordering on Jazz-Rock or straight-up Prog. Complex with plenty of magical individual performances from all of the musicians (though the drums are a little poor in their volume levels), the multi-voice vocal enters around the two minute mark, delivering a round of lyrics before giving way to folk flute and then a powerful section with some great chord progessions supporting both electric guitar and synth solos. Then we're back to the group lyrics for another round of the same, this time with synth, sax, organ and then guitar offering the harmonized "solos" till the end. (9.5/10)

4. "Djin (Maestro-Mago De Los Salamandras)" (3:52) metronomic piano chords support a rather bombastic intro with drums, bass, and multiple searing guitars exposing the power this band is capable of. But, this only lasts about 50 seconds before the storm passes and we're left with piano and soprano sax (and, soon, flute) to deliver some gentle pastoral beauty for about a minute before the drums-and-duo-guitars explode onto the scene again. This cycle continues until the pastoral and main theme combine to softly take us out. (9.25/10)

- "Elemental De Agua" : 5. "Despertar De Los Hijos De La Mañana" (3:45) electric piano playing two chords opens this before the rest of the band crashes the party with some quite bombastic play: everybody but the bass (and piano) seeming to scurry off into their own soloing. By the arrival of the second minute things are calming down, eventually leaving just the piano and flute to play for us, but then--just as with the previous song--the cycle of pastoral beauty being broken by 20-to-30- second bursts of bombast continue--until a bass and cymbal crash at 3:26 signals the intro to the next song of the suite. Wonderful stuff! (9.25/10)

6. "Necksa (Maestro-Mago De Las Ondinas)" (8:07) opens to quickly establish a cool Jazz-Rock Fusion bass and drum groove, funky yet well-steeped in rock, before tenor saxophone presents the main melody. The bass player's style sounds like Stanley Clarke with the thick bass lines mixed with heavy bass chords. So cool! An extended "pause" or "repeat" in which no real soloing is going on is then followed by another explosion of sax melody-making before the music shifts into a different motif--one that seems to combine a 1960s spy-theme with the big RTF sound palette. At 5:45 things thin out, making way for the arrival of vocals: first all female choir, then male. By 6:30 the music turns back to all-instrumental with a more Latin rock sound and feel while a spacey synth and flute fly above the rhythm guitar and heavy bass work. Excellent! (14/15) - "Elemental De Aire" : 7. "Los Nacidos Del Viento" (3:57) a gentler, more spacious soundscape is created over which breathy, gentle male vocalist (doubled up?) joins in sounding like a cross between something between classic NEKTAR, CAMEL, CELESTE, PFM, and modern DEVIN TOWNSEND. Sax and odd synth sounds take the lead in the fourth minute before volume- pedal-controlled electric guitar notes and flute provide bird-like sounds to take us out--while the gently-arpeggiated electric guitar chords that started it all continue throughout and right to the end. Very pretty. Almost more prog folky than JRFuse. (9.125/10)

8. "Paralda (Maestro-Mago De Los Silfos)" (8:09) a rock-heavy Jazz-Rock Fusion song built around a variation of Henry Mancini's "Peter Gunn" while deploying a heaviness that well-emulates the peak music of VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR: this is truly remarkable! At 4:45 the band takes a detour down a JAN HAMMER-like road so that Ara Tokatlian can show off his synth prowess--in two channels--in opposition to his guitarist, Ignacio Elisavetsky. An extraordinary duel (triel?)--one that is right up there with anything Mahavishnu or RTF or their numerous offshoots and imitators ever did. (14.25/15)

Total time 39:20

After starting with the band's early releases, and now skipping ahead to this full-fledged Jazz-Rock Fusion-bordering- on-Proggy album, I have to admit my astonishment at the growth and progress the band has achieved. They were always good--with great musicianship top to bottom--but to so wonderfully blended the sounds and styles of such high in such an impressive way is beyond all expectations.

A/five stars; a full-blown masterpiece of proggy Jazz-Rock Fusion: on the same level as the best from Fermáta, SBB, Jan Hammer, or any of the early RPI classics! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED--especially if you profess yourself a prog lover!

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