AUREA HYBRIDE

What you will find here are 19 minutes of instrumental music with both a delicate and explosive sound, with the always present emotional touch of post-rock.

It opens with 'El conejo y el jardín', a captivating track since the very first seconds. Some math-rock strings and a beautiful keyboard as background open the gates for a 6-minute journey that is very visual, it is easy to put some images in one's mind while listening to it. After two minutes the song becomes more intense, faster, like a vertiginous passage that is being surrounded by a diversity of sounds and textures. Love the guitar solo after minute 3, and really love the keyboard work, it produces a lot of emotions, lot of nuances.

'La Luna y yo' is a very emotional track, its first seconds sound more in the vein of post-rock, while later with the heaviness they blend it with the math-rock side, and I love it! The music flows and then before reaching the second minute they make a challenging change in tempo, which might get you unbalanced at first, but when you listen to it again, you'll catch it. A guitar riff comes later; heavy drums and loads of energy are placed in the last couple of minutes.

'Emboscada para flamencos' has a more metal-ish feeling since the drums' first beats; then it develops its rhythm and structure, using all of their elements available to create a new adventurous passage. I like the heaviness of their strings, and the cadence of their keyboards. This heaviness can also be appreciated by a powerful bass sound that enters in the last minute, but wait, then they decided to put a kind of robotic feeling in the end, creating a completely different atmosphere. Challenging and great.

Last but not least is 'El mar en tus ojos', which starts with addictive math-rock strings that are later joined by heavy drums and keys. I like that while the song is being developed, they show several elements already shown in the EP, like that robotic/futuristic sound, and they blend of both match and post-rock feeling. It is a powerful way to end this release, in spite of its calm passage where bass lines stand out to my ears.

My favorite is track 1, but I like this EP equally. Important to say that the CD version comes with literary texts by keyboard player Pais Villagrana, texts that nicely complement the tracks, so if you can, grab a copy of it.

Looking forward to their upcoming full-length album.

Enjoy it!

For those who are not familiar with Aurea Hybride, let me tell you they are a talented Mexican band that plays something close to post-rock / metal and progressive rock. They play instrumental music that always has something to say. I discovered some years ago with their debut EP in which I was attracted by that aggressive sound that was close to metal but without being metal at all. I think their first two releases have so much in common, however, this third release entitled III. Facultades del alma, offers a much softer sound, less aggressive but at the same time powerful, bringing a lot of emotions that any mind in need of freedom could grab.

The band's concept goes deeper than the music. Their name "Aurea Hybride" tells us that they are also interested in the Golden Ratio (Proporción Áurea, in Spanish) and also in the Fibonacci Sequence, so they take inspiration from those numbers and math to create music. This new album is a consequence of that passion, an album that has 9 songs divided in 3 parts, each part equals to one Soul's Faculty (the album name means Soul's Faculties), giving us a running time of 33 minutes, their shortest album so far.

I am happy to be here now writing about it since they had to postpone this release for some months due to some issues, but fortunately it finally saw the light and they must be proud of it.

It opens with "Memoria", a short introductory track has cool atmospheres led by keyboards. It leads to "Ocaso Lunar", a beautiful song in which strings appear as main actors, wonderfully complemented by drums and those relaxing but deep atmospheric synths. The post-rock feeling appears here for the first time, bringing a sense of hope and a bright future. After two minutes the mood becomes a bit heavier, using elements of math rock, djent and metal, letting us know of course, their skills as composers and performers. This first part finishes with "Luciérnaga fugaz", in which synths plays a more important role. At first the musical feeling has again that math rock element, but later it calms down a little bit offering passages with an evident post-rock vibe. A funky guitar appears later, so in moments even a jazzy tune can be appreciate and contrasted by a metal.-like drumkit. I like this song a lot because in 5 minutes they managed to produce countless sounds and atmospheres based on several musical genres.

The second faculty opens with "Entendimiento", which again delivers that sense of hope and a bright future (at least that's my interpretation). The djently strings are noticed and wonderfully contrasted by the atmospheric sounds produced by synths. "Nube de cometas" if I'm not mistaken, was the first single of this album, a song the band themselves shared to me months previous from the album's release, and a song that they could take as an anthem, because it is wonderful, very well composed and produced, so one could say that it sums up what the current Aurea Hybride lineup shares: passionate post-rock with some heavier hints that might hit you with introspective powers, but that will make you look forward to reach your goals. Yeah, this is the power of music. "Signos fractales" is another cool track in which they combine post rock with post metal, some passages of this song might remind you to the "old" Aurea Hybride sound. Here the bass lines are remarkable, and I am really delighted about the synths' work because they produce the most suitable atmospheres to any of its passages. Great!

The last part is also the shortest and probably my least favorite. It starts with "Voluntad", which is an odd 1-minute track that sounds like an old recording. It leads to "Metamorfosis" which I believe is the rockiest of them all. It has again a combination of some metal, djent and post rock elements that generate both soft and heavy passages. I must say that I don't like how it finishes, because it all of a sudden vanishes and disappears, so a couple of seconds later we are already listening to "3 x III = 3" which is another short track but this time with a different feeling, because the jazz resemblance is more evident here. It passes fast and then the album finishes.

I would like to invite you to discover Aurea Hybride's music, I bet you will be delighted. Overall, this is a wonderful album with two super-solid parts (I & II) and one just nice (III), of course this is a personal opinion.

Enjoy it!

It is wonderful to discover every year new bands from your country, but it is better to know that those bands are actually great bands, with talented musicians who are willing to create music of high quality. Aurea Hybride is a young project from Zacatecas, Mexico, which was introduced to me a month ago, and whose music I have really enjoyed ever since. They surely have a bright future. Now, I hope we, the listeners, reviewers, producers, help them to spread the word and make them noticed, because their music is worth it.

Their debut album is entitled 'Elementario' and was self-released as a digital album (I hope they get the support to release it as CD, I would love to own one), it comprises five songs that make a total time of 39 minutes, so as you can imagine, you will not really find short tracks here. Their music is a blend of progressive rock, with post-rock and metal (post-metal, maybe), so if you feel attracted to those genres, then I recommend you to listen to it.

'Minimal Signo' is the song that opens the album. It starts with mellow guitar with an obvious post-rock sound, but half a minute later the metal side of Aurea Hybride appears with other guitars, and makes a wonderful contrast between calm and anger. Just before the second minute, the calm side vanishes and the metal-like sound prevails. Here the game of the guitars is pretty cool, each and every of the guitars produce a different sound, and a different emotion. After three minutes a new structure is being built with a softer mood, but only for some seconds, because the heavier stuff later returns. So this is an example of what some would call post-metal.

'Drama & Caos' is the longest track, with ten minutes of good music. It opens with a soft and dreamy sound which is slowly progressing, the guitars do their work, while drums create wonderful rhythms, and bass put also some good lines and notes. The charm of the beginning is once again contrasted by the energy of the metal-oriented guitars, which little by little enter to the track until they turn it into a post-metal song again. There are some good guitar riffs here and there, which are not that pompous, but made and placed. This is a complex and challenging track, though it is not my favorite.

'Biog'nesis de un sue'o' follows practically the same line as the previous tracks, I mean, it starts with a dreamy and post-rockish sound, morphed a minute later into a post-metal one. And it is this heavier side which actually continues and sentences the music's destiny at least for the first four minutes. There is like an interlude in which a spacey synth appears making a kind of dreamy and futuristic atmosphere. Later the song uses some electronic samples, the atmosphere continues but now with an addictive guitar. Later there is a nice bass sound, and even acoustic guitar that adds a different nuance. Pretty good track!

'M'quinas h'bridas' is probably the song I enjoy the least, mostly due to its first part, which is the heaviest of the album. The first minutes became a bit boring to me due to its repetitiveness, but later when the softer sound enters it becomes more interesting (obviously, this is mere subjectivity). The introduction of the piano after four minutes gives it a very different face, and even a jazzy touch; this part is by far the best of the track, and one of the finest of the whole album.

And the album finishes with 'Balance elemental' which shows repetitive and heavy guitars, lead and rhythm, with a cool bass and great drums. The difference from the previous tracks is that here I did not feel bored, but interested in the other hand. The structure is very well-thought, with several changes and a diversity of elements and figures in the guitar. The last two minutes are softer, with a dramatic, yet enchanting sound.

Enjoy it!