?ALTO AL FUEGO!

Where the good music scores comercial success... that it is... a five star for sure...

OK, this album is a lot more alternative rock and less bussy about instrumentation... They leave the symphonic passages a little beat but manages to improve the sound recording and getting a lot heavier in the drums and guitar performance. They change the drummer, that's why, Lenin Fernandez plays a lot louder and with no hesitations. Orlando played a lot like a "marimba drummer", also interesting but with Lenin things improve a lot... in every aspect. Something to say, Jack Shuster was in the band during this recording but he left the band due the change of style... we can hear his only colaboration during the solos in "Libre Sentimiento" and "Alto al Fuego". This is an historical album... with 6 of the 8 tracks being radio hits... that shows quite well how popular they get with this realese...

Well, the album starts with "Fiesta Privada", the only song created specificly to match a comercial success. A funny song, very enjoyable and very rocky'n'rolly... you know... very "danceble" rock... but it's consistent 'cause that's the subject of the song... a wild party of teenagers girls... its a classic... very popular after more than 20 years of success...

Then comes one of the must underrated songs from their discography.... "Lider" is a heavy upbeat song with some interesting drums and rare accents... this song have one of the bests guitar-flaute solos from the band... the lyrics are quite silly... and maybe the thing that really let down the song is the voice of Ranferí, not strong enough to match the heaviness... a good song overall...

The third song is one of their himns, "Alto al Fuego" is THE SONG of the album without doubt. Heavy, very singable, with an important subject and a great middle section involved a shared solo between guitar, cello and violin... it is short... but is a great song... it's historic 'cause becomes an himn, with a lot of people asking for the peace in our countries. One of the must acclaim songs live... heavy alternative symphonic song... great...!!!

"Concierto al Fin" is one average song. Musically is great, with interesting keyboards parts and heavy driven guitars. The solo at the end of the song is interesting, versatile and well constructed, but the lyrics are kind of trivial... keeps on the level still...

The next song is one of the best love songs I've ever heard. "Libre Sentimiento" is touching, honest and smart song about loving someone without regrets or hesitations... It's a complex song, I mean, the acoustic guitar composition is very well written as it's amazing, once in a lifetime for me, a song with a crescendo, incorporating native percussion, flaute, cello and violin as it grows... beautiful song sang by Ranferí, a minimalistic masterpiece...

Then, "Toca Viejo" is the regular Alvaro Aguilar acoustic based rock song, with great assamble from all the instruments, building up a very country side environment... that matches great with the subject, that talks about traveling to a small town and get identify with your origins... it's kind of typical from Alux, but stills works great in the album.

One of the highlights is "Loco"... a piano based song and the must proggy from the album. You have to listen to understand why... because sound very typical for them but the vibe throughout the song is so dinamic a creative. The Cello solo is outstanding... great performance... especcially live...

The albums end with another heavy song... with a couple of time signature changes and a strange assamble, involving brass sections, interesting guitar solo and lyrics about the poor kids that live on the streets. Another great hit, with a great vibe... the best clousure to a great masterpiece... this is one of their best efforts... 5 stars for sure...!!!

Agreed with Jampa. This is good music which was extremely succesful on its time, commercial-wise. It was Alux's breakthrough in the mainstream, and what a breakthrough! Pretty much the whole album (6 of 8 songs) were big hits and have become part of Central American culture, of its heritage. They belong to every Central American now.

About the change of drummer, I find it to be a bad move. Orlando was a much more melodic drummer, Lenin is a rock drummer, powerful, but it his playing doesn't attract my attention as Orlando's.

Fiesta Privada: extremely commercial song, but fun nonetheless. The first riff tells us that the symphonic arrangments and aesthetics are gone, since it's a riff played in a guitar with a tone 100% typical of hard rock. In fact, the first times that I heard the album I couldn't stand the tone of the guitar at all, because I was used to the tone of the previous albums (I listened to them cronologically). It's also important to note that the role of the synths is much more subdued, with more prominence of the guitar and drums.

Líder: nice song, with a longish and interesting guitar solo, something rare in their previous albums.

Alto Al Fuego: The anthem of a generation. Interesting integration of the cello to the whole rock sound. The nicest part comes from a question and answer part between the guitar and cello/violin in the middle. Of course, its kept very short, because the song is supposed to be a hit single. Oh, and the violin is present in this song. I thought Schuster had left before the album was recorded, but right now I'm hearing the violin, so I stand corrected.

Concierto Al Fin: I always feel that this song is much more longer than four minutes. It drags the album down. I mean, the music is ok and the arrangments are quite diverse, some interesting keyboard parts here and there (in the context of a hard rock song) but the main riff in the guitar is just meh...

Libre Sentimiento: another love ballad with very meaningful lyrics. If you've read Erich Fromm's "The Art Of Loving", you'll know that Ranferí had it's mind on it when he wrote the lyrics. The music is ok, but I think he would write his ultimate ballad in Americamorfosis.

Toca Viejo: Finally, some clean electric guitar! That distortion was getting a bit in my nerves. This song is about how marimba music has been overshadowed by new currents in music, but it still has a lot of value for our people. I think it's a missed oportunity to integrate the marimba to the song, because it's only done very superficially at the end. I mean, it's logical that since the song is about marimba music, the marimba should have the most prominent role. Well, besides that it's a pleasant song.

Loco: Definitely my favorite song of the album. Not only for the message and the way it is presented is excellent, but also the music is a very good example of how a composer can introduce his/her soul and aesthetics in a established and conventional form (in this case rock). Paulo has written another masterpiece and as usual is odd in the context of the album. It's driven by an synthezised piano, with quiet and slow verses. The first lines are sung by Paulo and the last by Alvaro, having a nice contrast. In the verses the life of two young guys are contrasted. The first one is an isolated person, everyone thinks that he's crazy, because he looks and does weird things. The second guy has a normal 8 to 4 job and studies at night, but it turns out that he's actually a junkie! ...Appearences are always deceitful... Then the bridge has an insane cello solo, really great. Finally, the closing part gives a message about how "loco's" shouldn't be judged because they are most likely visionaries.

Como Un Duende: Another massive hit, really massive. I think every single person in Guatemala knows this song! The beginning is a bit monotonous, and then we're greeted by the unnerving guitar distortion and cheesy synth brass. Thankfully, the bass plays a prominent role in this song and the message and its presentation are great. The lyrics are about children who beg for money or food in the streets.

Another thing that has to be pointed out is how much the singing has improved compared to the first albums, specially Alvaro's. He's become the prototypical male baritone that plenty of singers in Guatemala would try to imitate in the next years.

All taken in to account, it's the album in Alux's discography which has interested me the least, resulting in fewer listenings in comparison to the others. Stil, I like it more than other albums by different artists. I'd never rate this as essential for my life, and in the scope of this site it would never be a masterpiece of progressive music. I wasn't sure if giving it 2 or 3 stars, but for the fact that I admire the impact of this album, it deserves the three stars.