PATRIMONIO

Tryo's third album is certainly a most valuable patrimony from Chile to the world of prog rock: "Patrimonio" shows a band that has already dealt with their influences in a constructive way, and finally conquered their own ultimate voice. The dose of sonic power in this album's repertoire is not as directly overwhelming as in their impressive debut recording, yet it would be inaccurate to state that their sound is less strong or less energetic. On the contrary, their musical power is as astounding as always: only the threesome have grown wiser through the years, and this fact led them to incorporate a wider array of musical sources in a most coherent and skillful manner. As a living proof for this, the listener is first offered the four part suite 'Valparaiso Patrimonio' that kicks off the album: starting with a predominant jazz-pop mood in track 1, the next three combine the academic exquisiteness of chamber music and the special magic of Latin American folklore. Basically, the trio's main intention here is explore more meticulously into their acoustic sensibility in order to polish their skill and finesse. and the result is unequivocal - they succeeded at that! More of this comes later in 'Danza del Furor', an incredibly delicate tour- de-force of cello, guitar and vibes. This somewhat softened attitude is soon abandoned in favor of the elaboration of density, tension and electric fire: 'Camino' is a brief ad-lib soundscape of guitar, bass and cymbals that serves as a prelude to the up tempo ambience of 'Contrastes', a compromise of hard rock and funky-driven jazz with a slight Crimsonian twist. It's such a pity that this good piece is so short (it only lasts 2 minutes and a half, actually shorter than the previous number). But that's not the problem with the following track, the much stronger 'Recuadros', which in my opinion stands out as the most brilliant gem in the album: this piece shows how well has the band's renewed exquisiteness has served in order to allow the band develop their own prog voice regarding their electric facet. The same goes for 'Estudio' (again, so good and too short), 'Justicia', 'Grietas', and the Led Zep-esque concise closure aptly entitled 'Epílogo'. Overall balance: an excellent prog rock repertoire split between the heat of rock, oiled by the clever dexterity of jazz, and the candid beauty of acoustic sensibility, seasoned by chamber stuff. "Patrimonio" must be enjoyed as what it is, a manifesto of artistic maturity, a maturity soon to be confirmed and enhanced in their following album "Dos Mundos" - but that's another story.