ALY

— First review of this album —

Familiar, Comfortable, yet innovative.

This is a very interesting proposition from Aly. I've been waiting for this album for a long time now, but back when I heard this album was going to be sung in Nahuatl ( a Mexican Native Language) I didn't knew what to expect... well... for sure I didn't expect this.

Except from the fact that the lyrics are sung in Nahuatl, this album is everything you know, everything you have heard, it is your comfort zone, it brings you home, right where you want to be... except not. As you listen, you think you know exactly were the composition is going and where it's coming from... from David Gilmour to Steve Vai, with hints of Yes, IQ, Supertramp, Metallica even Manuel M. Ponce... I'm sure you'll notice your own favorites in here without being able to finally pinpoint where everything is coming from. This feeling I'm talking about comes from Aly's ability in composition and conceptualization to take what he loves of several influences and make something totally new.

Being an Aly album you'd expect to hear that guitar virtuosity that characterizes him everywhere, but no... virtuosity is only displayed where it's needed which makes those passages more enjoyable rather having a full song without any spaces between notes.

The vocals on this album are great. One singer imposes herself right away, the other has a sweetness in her voice that makes the complexity of nahuatl phonetics really mellow.

This is a very enjoyable album from start to finish, a bit addictive for me I must say, I find myself playing it over and over again, looking for more details, those details make this a great album.

Aly was a musical project of Alonso Romero, he was born in Mexico (1979), started to study piano when he was 8 and he is playing guitar since his 13th. He has a varied taste: with the band Toccata he released the album entitled Circe (2005) on which he plays guitar in the progmetal vein but he also made a classical album with flute and guitar.

We can find back this captivating contrast between rock and classical on Aly their instrumental debut album Hypotesis Ubicua. Alonso has invited a wide range of musicians featuring drummer Adolfo Raimundo (who did a tour with the new line-up of Italian progrock legend Il Balletto Di Bronzo).

On most of the nine compositions Alonso delivers heavy guitar work with obvious hints of Steve Vai and Joe Satriani, fueled by a thunderous rhythm-section evoking Metallica and Opeth. How exciting and I am impressed by Alonso his furious, blistering and biting guitar runs and propulsive fat guitar riffs. The most interesting element of Aly their music is in my opinion the way he blends the sound of varied keyboards with the powerful guitar work. Often this evokes a lot of tension in the Aly sound. Dazzling interplay with synthesizers (El Aspecto Sombrio De La Desinhibicion and Sirenas Posei­das En La Mente De Omicron). And lush organ waves (Necesidad Ilimitada), dreamy piano work (Instinto En La Nostalgia) and orchestral keyboards (Ocular).

Another wonderful contrast on this album is the short track Ocaso Inesperado that contains classical guitar, it sounds very warm. But the highlight is the 'magnum opus progressivus' Meh - Lahn - Coh - Lih Ah, a 25 minutes composition that is divided into six alternating parts. First a majestic violin-Mellotron intro, soaring keyboards with howling guitar runs and an interlude with dreamy keyboards. Then an exciting wah-wah drenched guitar solo with populsive drums, powerful Hammond organ with heavy guitar work (bombastic prog metal climate). And finally a beautiful final part delivering acoustic rhythm guitar and a choir-Mellotron-like sound, goose bumps!

What an exciting debut album, I am sure the progmetal and Heavy Prog fans and heavy metal guitar freaks wil be delighted about Aly their music. Unfortunately it's still silent, after 10 years, no new album by this very promising musician.

Alonso Romero alias Aly is a young guitarist from Mexico who released his first solo album last vyear named Hipotesis ubicua. He is mainly known from progressive band Toccata who released a single album so far Circe in 2005. CIrce was a masterpiece in my opinion with some very intristing ideas and great musicianship , here on this solo album Aly is no diffrent. Recruting some musicians from his country, to tell the truth I never heared of them, but with a lot of potential and talent. All album is instrumental, from mellow pieces to a much rougher ones, Aly manage too come with a valueble album full of blistering guitar solos and catchy riffs. The album is mid tempo almost on every piece, no faster ones, but that is not a problem here, he realy knows how to make a pieces to be loved from first note, the ex are El Aspecto Sombrío De La Desinhibición (with a touch of Metallica with some Dream Theater elements here and there) great tune full of inteligent guitar chops and great drum by Emanuel Herrera, Terrenal my fav piece from here full of Satriani inspiration but not a copy, great tune for sure, his finger movements on guitar is excellent and a mellow track called Instinto En La Nostalgia again some Satriani influences but aswell with some Petrucci chops here and there, nice piece and smooth aswell, the rest are ok. What I like more here on this album is , he didn;t copy himself with what he did on Toccata, there he was a little more faster, more symphonic and more up tempo in solos, here is more steady more serious he has another aproach of prog metal, because that is the main genre that he touches here with Hipotesis ubicua. He is very calculated here, he is concentrated to have a brilliant riff and solo rather then create somthing very complicated and very complex jut for the sake of being complex. I will not give more then 4 stars, well is 3.5 rounded to 4, is agreat album but the last track who has nearly 26min is too long in my opinion, if it were half was much better, to much same tempo , to much same riffs and same arrangements, this spiece is clearly the weakest point here, and for sure must've been declared as the best from this album, not for me. Anyway one of the most promissing guitarists from this decade for sure with a lot to offer both solo as with his main band Toccata and yed very unnoticed in prog circles. It took me almost 3 month to trace the CD, but after many searches I found it, the album is released at Gravis records, a small label from Mexico. So if you want something diffrent to expect from an instrumental album go for Aly , he desearve a wider recognition for sure.