Y MURIÓ LA TARDE

Nirgal Vallis was and is one of the most elegant and smooth bands that came out from Mexico in the '80's. They released one album in 1985 named Y murio la tarde ( translates in ....and dusk perished) and I'm saying with my hand on heart is one of the most beautiful and elegant albums I ever heared, really some great moments here. To release such an album in 1985 in a period when heavy metal or hard rock was at the peak and prog music going nowhere with some exceptions you must to have big balls, something that Nirgal Vallis proved to have after all. The album was re leased by Musea in 1995 almost 10 years from first issue and was a big succes now more than then. The band and the music is conducted by one of the most intelligent keyboard players from Mexico and not only from there José Luis Fernández Ledesma. He is the main composer of this album and the result is a fantastic journey through smooth, mellow synphonic prog but also with some up tempo elements here and there, they never crosses more than mid tempo pieces here, but that is not a problem the whole album is as good it can gets. The voice of Claudio Martinez de Alba is something that adds to the music another dimension and fits like a glove here, hand in hand with the polished symphonic prog of the album. Ramón Nakash B. did a great job here, who is interplaying very well with the rest of the musicinas. Alejandro Schmidt is the guitaris who contribute a lot to the album sound, the elegant manner of interpretation of symphonic elements on guitar here are fantastic, acustic and aswell electric this guy never stop amaze me, he is not the one to be hered from the first note, he is the one that must be found in the wholness of the album. Nirgal Vallis, is one of the bands that needs to be more in front in prog circles, for some reasons they are almost forgotten and is really a shame, their music is smooth with folk touches here and there, with symphonic greatness all over and among that with some beautiful and full of splendour key and vocal harmonies. I will give 5 stars easy, one of the most elegant albums from my collection, and aswell outstanding cover art and inner booklet of the CD with all the story of the band and nice pictures of band members. Recommended for sure. CD available at Musea.

The history of this band and their original album is somewhat atypical. The group was formed in 1983 during the prog dark ages., and the 1985 LP was a "split release", with side 1 belonging to NIRGAL VALLIS and Side 2 to Arturo Meza & Maja Rustige. I'm not sure how common this was but it's a new concept to me, other than on compilations. The sales were not encouraging enough at the time, but in 1995 the group reformed just long enough to lay down 4 more tracks cut from a similar cloth. These appeared as bonus material on the Musea reissue shortly thereafter, padding out the running time to a proper LP length after omitting the Arturo Meza portion, which I have therefore never heard.

I have been listening to "Y Murio La Tarde" for a while on the assumption that it was an Italian group rather than from Mexico, which betrays my rudimentary Spanish but is also corroborated by Spotify's insistence on pairing NIRGAL VALLIS with continental bands. Admittedly mellower than 90% of Latin prog of any stripe, the folk here is always balanced by bell like electronic keyboards, particularly Moogs and electric piano; violins; and winds which cast the band in a more symphonic light than their categorization might suggest. As I alluded, the bonus cuts are well and truly compatible with the originals, even including a lengthy, this time, instrumental, epic "Memorias de Un Cometa" that, along with the title track, are among the highlights here. I would also add "Alberich" and "El Tiempero" to that list. My main criticism is that very little here moves me or even distracts me much, but I'm sure the playing and vocals alone would click emotionally with many listeners.

The name of the band refers to a specific long river channel on the planet Mars dating back to the time when the planet was ostensibly more water than land. I'm not sure I would class their sole full length release as quite so otherworldly or even awe inspiring as that formation might be, but its history is both unique and inspiring right here on earth. 3.5 stars.