RESURRECCIÓN (E)

Some thirty years after the Mexican band Iconoclasta was formed by guitarist-keyboardist Ricardo Moreno, the band returns with Resurrección, an appropriate title after a silence of two decades. Some line-up changes were inevitable but both guitarist Ricardo Ortegón and drummer Victor Baldovinos are present from the original line-up. Currently Greta Sylva plays the bass, arranges all vocals and sings part of the lead vocals while Alma Castillo seems to be the second lead vocalist in the band. The opening track shows influences of Blood, Sweat & Tears because of the woodwind and the slightly funky sound, but the female vocals give the music that definite latin edge. The muffled guitar sound is characteristic for the band. More symphonic is Posesión En Cuerpo Y Alma, emotionally sung in Spanish with beautiful orchestrations and the way the ladies sing reminds me of the more recent albums by the French outfit Minimum Vital. Huapanguero contains a mixture of pop and folk. Hijo is a beautiful acoustic guitar piece although the guitar is not tuned perfectly as far as I'm concerned. The vocals, more suitable for gypsy music, are very tasteful. In the instrumental track Deidad Solar you may recognize some influences of Yes and again Minimum Vital. The sound of the bass however, is more jazzy and more staccato then in the bands mentioned. The longest track Huautla mixes Yes-influences with pop and folk music. Most of the vocals are lalala-ohohoh and ai-ai-ai sounds. Well, this one's certainly not my favorite! Nice keyboards and guitars though. Latin and some jazz-rock influences can be heard in La Resurrección De Maquiavelo, an homage to the famous Italian painter. Again lyrics without words and not always in perfect harmony, but very good guitar playing by both Ricardo's as well as bass playing by Sylva. El Perro Del Pavlov contains more rock oriented music. The vintage sound reminds me of the first albums by Iconoclasta in the early eighties and the chords are comparable to those in While My Guitar Gently Weeps by The Beatles. The first melody lines in La Búsqueda De La Verdad En Sí Mismo remind me of She's Not There by The Zombies, a nice popular tune with again some Yes influences in the second part. A majestic poppy as well as symphonic song with twin guitars and nice vocals is the finale of the resurrection of this Mexican outfit. The pieces with 'real' lyrics are alternated by 'nanana-like singing.

Many of us may not comprehend nor like the Spanish language, but musically this album is above average. To my ears both vocals and the guitars sound a tiny bit out of tune now and then. On the other hand, it's very nice to have Iconoclasta back in the prog scene, because for a long time Cast was - as far as I know - the only Mexican band that established an international recognized status. The production could have been done differently, but this is partly a matter of taste. However, they could have been paid a bit more attention to details.