CUEVAS DE ALTAMIRA

This is a decent combination of folk-rock with some nice acid rock guitar and occasional heartfelt vocals. Ibio, hailing from Spain, combines traditional Spanish folk music themes with electric rock music. The results are mixed in my opinion. There are moments that are quite powerful and other moments which are decidedly less compelling. The playing is certainly adequate but nothing mind-shattering.

"Ceuvas de Altamira" is a worthy opener with wailing guitar and strong vocals. "Romance del Conde Lara" nicely blends keys, acoustic and electric guitar in an instrumental that works well but is too short. The guitar sound generally is nice and raw, the keyboards range from pleasantly serene to cringingly cheesy on "La virulencia." The long closing track "La Baila De Ibio" is the most ambitious song from a prog perspective. Starting in dramatic punchy fashion, the drums set the pace for a duel between keys and lead guitar. Halfway through the acoustic enters and things continue to build into a finale of electric guitar soloing which ends abruptly. Again it does work but not to an astounding degree by any means.

The Fonomusic tri-fold digipak displays the stunning front and back cover paintings beautifully, though sadly they did not include any booklet of lyrics or band history. 3.5 stars. Definitely recommended for fans of Spanish folk prog, for other I'm not sure.