ESTRUCTURA

Sometimes, trolls and bad intentions go under the radar, I discovered this band and found it very good and innovative, blending music genres and delivering an album that sounds extremely fresh for the era

A reviewer however and intentionally misleads people genuinely interested in discovering new music by accusing the band of stealing music in 1977/1978 from IQ, a band that will form in 1982.

There are amazing passages and instrumental moments!

No band deserves hate from any prog fan, you didn't like it? Fine... move on don't spoil it for others

I really do not know if this is a concept album,all indications show that it has to be,as the music is often interrupted by spoken parts by a narrator.The overall style is Symphonic Rock with touches of of Space Rock,Fusion,Opera and Electronic Music and all kind of synths thrown in.The musicianship is mostly great,, sometimes melodic,other ones quite complicated,but the production doesn't help really.Vocals are warm and sensitive,both male and female.There are plenty of piano interludes throughout,flashy synth-driven solos and Classical-inspired passages in the style of RICK WAKEMAN with many interplays between them.This symphonic-oriented music is often combined with Fusion-esque parts,including groovy guitar and bass playing and fast electric pianos.A weird combination of styles ,which eventually works well,resulting a nice journey through an ambitious effort.If only the production was slightly better...

The band had an intense live activity at the time with a unique approach,playing the album almost in an operatic/theatrical way with explosions and special effects on stage along with a forty-member choir,breaking all grounds in the Venezuelean rock scene.The show sould have been definitely a lifetime experience.The album comes strongly recommended to all fans of keyboard-driven Symphonic Rock with no scare of some Fusion hints here and there...3.5 stars.

Venezuela during the 70's and 80's produced several interesting prog acts, forming a very reduced but solid scene. Although the bands were very diverse in sound, the predominant form of progressive rock was symphonic, represented by bands such as Tempano, Vytas Brenner, Ficcion and Parthenon. Estructura is a product of its time, being heavily influenced by such artists as Yes, Genesis and Queen. One thing that characterized most bands of the Venezuelan symphonic prog scene is the addition of Latin-American elements to their british prog oriented sound (the best example of this is Vytas Brenner) and Estructura is no exception.

Estructura's second and last effort is an attempt of emulating Rick Wakeman's Journey to the Center of the Earth both musically and stylistically. As a result, we have a very pleasant and often bombastic symphonic keyboard led piece with a narrator (telling a weird story about a fantastic journey, really similar in style to Jules Verne's work). The vocals, although in spanish, are astoundingly similar to the ones on Wakeman's album and almost the same keyboard set (with the exact same moog sounds on some sections) is used. At the end what we have here is a tribute to Rick Wakeman with some sections more reminiscent to other symphonic prog keyboardists such as Patrick Moraz and Keith Emerson and a latin touch every now and then.

The album as a whole is very coherent and cohesive, although it is distributed in several short tracks it is intended as a whole. The lyrics and concept aren't well developed but you can notice that all the musicians involved are very talented (but not really original), because lets face it: if you want to imitate to perfection some of the most talented musicians in prog you have to be very very good. Besides the keyboards, something that is worth mentioning is the guitar work sometimes similar to Steve Howe's (specially on Sueños) and sometimes more heavily oriented.

Among the most original pieces we can find the opening tracks (En Su Busca and En El Tiempo), Su Presencia, El Regreso and Mensaje a la Humanidad. Which are nice and well written pieces that show the capabilities of the band as a creative force.

Throughout the album, excellent musicianship and some hints of originality are shown. This is not a bad album but it isn't excellent.... a more original third album by this talented group of musicians might have reached a 4 (or maybe 5) star status... but I guess we'll never now....

This album has everything. Fusion. Latino-pop. Euro-pop. Jazz. Rock. ........ and some symphonic prog too. Although the latter category is more or less forgotten in this blandfest. But some Keith Emerson like keyboards runs can be detected. Mostly is this latino-pop and jazz with some euro rock and pop included. The vocals are both male and female. The sound quality is pretty acceptable.

The qualtity though is pretty bad. The only good stuff here is the ones the band has stolen from the likes of IQ and ELP. The rest is pretty bland. Nothing here really makes an impression in my head. I have heard they tried to copy Rick Wakeman's solo efforts on this album. They failed miserably. But his Journey albums is actually a good reference for this album. But if latino prog with many different layers of bland music is your style, this maybe something for you. It is not my cup of tea.........ehh, make that Columbian coffee.

2 stars (barely)

The music is pretty much an all-inclusive affair with everything from Uriah Heep to ELP. Add a bit AOR, Rick Wakeman, Yes, Pink Floyd and Genesis to the mix and you get my drift. The music is keyboards driven with some heavy guitars inbetween. The very good vocals are both female and male vocals. The songs are pretty short too with an average lenght of four minutes. All songs falls down in the category "epic". The sound is tolerable, but not great.

The quality of the music is good, without setting my house on fire. Not to mention myself. There is no really signature or killer tracks here and the songs are pretty anonyme, despite of them being sung in Spanish. But the opening track is great and David Mamán, the keyboard player knows what he is doing. This album is not the greatest ever moment in the history of prog rock. But it is still pretty good. Nuff said, really.

3 stars