TIEMPO FUGITIVO

Not very frequently we meet a band from Puerto Rico to play Progressive Rock, but that's the case with Menayeri from Ponce, found in 1992 by Edwin Torres (vocals), Edgardo Alvarez (guitars), Rambert Bastell (bass) and Enrique Ocasio (drums), later joined by Manuel Irizarry on keyboards.In mid-90's the band performed in various bars and universities, switching from English to Spanish lyrics, and in 1997 comes a first demo with 5 songs.The line-up changes led to a short break in 1998, but the next year Menayeri regrouped to record their debut ''Tiempo Fugitivo'', released indepedently in 2000.

The style of the group was fairly commercial Symphonic Rock with light instrumental themes and lots of vocals, musically reminiscent to DRAMA from Uruguay or even Mexicans CAST.The tracks are rather short and the arrangements are based on alternating smooth and heavier guitar moves, refined symphonic synthesizers and dreamy instrumental textures.Not some high-class material, but some ideas are very interesting, featuring some nice breaks leading to decent melodies or delivering more bombastic keyboard-based passages.Menayeri seem also capable of creating a variety of different atmospheres, from dramatic sections to more optimistic sounds.However the low recording quality and the unacceptable mix buries even these few good ideas, with the album seems like if being recorded live in studio.Half about of the tracks contain at least one great moment, either being a good interplay, a very catchy melody and a beautiful synth solo, the rest though of the material sounds very cliche and forgettable with no particular peaks to catch the listener's attention.

Decent debut, but far from trully interesting or strongly recommended.The sporadic interesting moments are quite good, but the vast majority of the album is just average, lowered even more by a bad production...2.5 stars.