METANOMIA

Argentina might be one of my favorite five countries when it is about progressive rock. My love for Mexican (my country) prog is big, but I will be honest, overall I believe I prefer the Argentinean scene. Names like Bubu, Invisible, Crucis, Nexus or William Gray are mentioned quite often in my prog chats, and nowadays I believe this country has gained a lot of followers. It is nice to support the music from our Latin American brothers.

Now I will review an album from a young band that was created in 2006 and whose future should be better and successful. Now I don't really know if they are planning a new album in the near future, but I expect them to improve this debut, which is not bad at all, but not my favorite, actually I am writing this review after at least a couple of years I've been meaning to, because I found difficult to share my feelings about it.

The album comprises nine songs making almost 70 minutes. The first composition might be one of the bests, it is actually a promising opener song which shows the musicians quality and creativity. It is an instrumental song that blends some symphonic sounds with metal feeling and even a jazzy touch, its name is "Tensión", and in moments the music does represent what the name suggests.

"Aeropuerto I" is the first song featuring vocals, and the first thing I say I don't like, the singer is not bad but I simply don't like his voice. Normally I don't pay too much attention in the vocals, but this time they sound too loud that distracts me from the music, which is actually quite simple in this song. The second half of the song is mostly instrumental and gentle, not bad at all.

"Descanso Eterno" is a nice song with a soft and tranquil atmosphere; there are great guitar riffs and some nice time and tempo changes. The influence they have from several bands, from King Crimson to Rush is evident in moments. What I miss is that Argentinean touch.

"Canción de Abril" is one of the shortest tracks, and in my opinion also one of the poorest tracks. The music sounds too simple at the beginning, it is actually boring, and again, the voice does not help at all. There is a faster moment where piano appears and sounds better, but it is just brief. I would skip this song.

"Sentir pasar" is the longest piece. Though I enjoy most of it, there is a part at the middle of the song where the band tried to be funny, and to my ears, they failed. They might hate me if they read this review, but what should make fun on me, it is actually very annoying to me. Well, returning to the whole essence of this song, I believe it is nice until the vocals appear again. I honestly would prefer this album without vocals, sorry for being so harsh, I don't really mean to.

"Un Punto en el Universo" is a soft and gentle song, actually i would say it is one of their bests, but maybe it is because in the first part the vocals sound a bit better than the previous songs. There is a nice guitar solo and cool drums all over the song. After the fourth minute there is a jazzy section which is very enjoyable because it is like the prelude of a brand new section, which starts with soft piano but in seconds becomes a bombastic heavy song, pretty nice.

"Trascendental" starts heavy with punching drums and bombastic keyboards and guitars. The band interplays quite good with the instruments and structures, though the whole song might have the same edification, there are moments of change that sounds good. The keyboard and guitar solos are also nice.

"Aeropuerto II" is another soft song with a tranquil feeling. The fact here is that after two minutes you could get bored, because its repetition this time does not suggest addiction. This is one of the lowest moments of this album.

And it finishes with "Imágenes I" The atmosphere created is quite relaxing and good. The sound of the synthesizer accompanied by some bass notes made me feel comfortable. But wait, a couple of minutes later the song drastically changes into a metal piece. I am not that keen on metal stuff, so I could not say I truly enjoy this part, I would have preferred if the song remained as it began.

This is a complicated album, not easy to listen, the music is good in some songs, but in others I find it boring, simple and repetitive, and that together with the vocals don't make me actually enjoy the album as I wish. However, it is worth saying that there are some interesting tracks that would please the prog rock fan. Though I would love to give the third star, I am not convinced, so my final grade will be two stars. I really wish the band a successful future and good luck with forthcoming releases. Anyway?

Enjoy it!