LOST IN TIME

The best thing in being a reviewer (for a prog magazine in addition to PA) is to receive CD's of artists I would probably never come across myself. This Spanish group is such case. The Storm was founded in Sevilla 1969 as Los Tormentos. Their main influence was DEEP PURPLE. This double deluxe CD (1000 limited edition) includes both albums of their career.

"The Storm " (1974) is hard-riffing heavy rock sung in English. As with Deep Purple, the organ has a big role. I don't enjoy the vocal tracks, the rough singing is very pushed and pretentious as it tries to sound heavy. Some songs are just plain poor and clichéd. There are three instrumentals; with the exception of guitar-heavy 'Experiencia Sin Órgano', meaning Experience Without Organ, they are the highlights for me. All in all this 34-minute album is not spectacular. Hardly it has notable historic value either, unlike e.g. PAN & REGALIZ' sole album from a few years earlier. The production however is quite OK.

After disbanding in 1976 - because of the Army duties - they returned in 1978. Only the bassist had changed. Funnily the two preceding reviews of The Storm prefer the debut over the second album, El Dia de la Tormenta (1979). Well, I enjoy it much more! Firstly, it's good to hear them perform in their own language.

Now the heavy rock aspect is mostly put aside, even the almost-normalized singing is much better. Actually it makes me think of Swedish KAIPA's debut album: it's not quite as high, but the singing style is rather similar. Especially on the opening track, which is the hardest rocking, there still are some heavy rock mannered vocal harmonies and vibrato too. From the second track onwards ('La Luz de Tu Voz' means the light of your voice, I suppose) one hears a notable pop attitude in compositions and playing. A lot had happened in music during those five years, and it's interesting to hear how it shows in The Storm's music. Naturally we must remember that many brave European artists kept on doing fine progressive rock at the risk of being ignored, and unfortunately this album cannot be counted in that category. It simply is too commercial-sounding for that.

But still I like it. The music is not TOO poppy, and there certainly are some progressive elements. Synths come to the fore especially on the two-part instrumental 'Saeta Ensayo', which in its melodic airiness reminds me of some CAMEL stuff. Also the electric guitar gets some soloing, after which the various organ sounds get more playful. 'Lejos de la Civilización' is rather straight-forward simplistic pop song, but a nice one. 'Desde el Mar Y las Estrellas' is very enjoyable song with lots of emotion and elegant soloing for Moog and electric guitar. Really great melodies here! The title track approaches disco-like beat and features a bit outdated synth carpets.

I'm not totally sure if I'll keep this set on my shelves, but it certainly was a pleasure to come across. By the way, if both albums were put in one disc, it would have been only about 72 minutes long. I'm really difficult to charm with multi-folded covers if the illustration is nothing special.

Spanish band STORM, also known as Los Tormentos And The Storm in the earlier parts of their career, was a quartet that started out in the late '60s, releasing their initial debut album in 1974. They broke up following the release of that LP, but reformed a few years later with Pedro Garcia replacing original bassist Jose Torres for a second go with their sophomore production in 1979 before calling it quits again just over a year later. They have in later years been regarded as one of the finest hard rock bands from Spain in the years they were active, but their material has been hard to find for potential buyers. "Lost in Time" is a two-CD set featuring both the albums Storm released back in the '70s.

Storm is a band whose material indeed does merit a CD release. They were a talented band back in the day, and especially their debut album and its hard rock foundation with progressive rock details and occasional full-song excursions into this realm an interesting one also 40 years later. Their second album isn't by far as interesting, more of a time typical excursion into radio-friendly melodic rock in terms of general style, but still with occasional, albeit subdued, slight nods towards progressive rock. A band and a production that merits a check by those who find '70s hard rock, melodic rock and progressive rock to be of a fairly equal interest as far as musical taste is concerned.