Progarchives, the progressive rock ultimate discography
Vientos Moderados del Este - Un Manual de Signos y Síntomas CD (album) cover

UN MANUAL DE SIGNOS Y SÍNTOMAS

Vientos Moderados del Este

 

Crossover Prog

4.56 | 36 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

BrufordFreak
5 stars Very interesting and enjoyable stuff from a bunch of retreads from Alicante, Spain who've just started collaborating.

1. "La Familia" (5:54) there is an interesting vibe to this rocker: like a blend of Bent Sather/ MOTORPSYCHO at his most energetic and Norwegian sophisticates, SEVEN IMPALE. I like the vocal sounds issued here: there's something old yet modern to it--like And I love the sound choices for many of the layers of instrument tracks. Great drumming! Definitely a Motorpsycho thing going on here. There's even a little "Free Bird"-like jam passage toward the end to get your blood pumpin'. Awesome! Great start to the album! Definitely a top three song. (9.75/10)

2. "No Habrá Paz para los Vencidos" (6:15) what starts out as a kind of black midi-SEVEN IMPALE-like music for the first three minutes turns Beach Boys, then full-on Surfer Rock, before coming back to a chugging stoner version of Seven Impale at 4:20. Interesting but definitely not my favorite. (8.75/10)

3. "Proxémica. Partes 1-3" (6:04) this one has some hooks! Like the "(Darling) You Send Me" Hawai'ian slide guitar riff in the opening motif. Bass and keyboard roles in this section are awesome--and Pablo Mateo's guitar work as well-- volume controlled and, later, wah-wah and searing distortion! At 3:50 there is an incredible shift beneath one of Pablo's high-flying sustained guitar notes, but this motif is short-lived as at 4:33 there is another shift into a slighly- Latinized motif on which Pablo has at least three tracks delivering key components. Around 5:30 we return to the opening melody for the finish. And did I mention that this is an all instrumental song?! Great song! (9.125/10)

4. "El Discurso de Despedida" (6:19) piano-based for a change--and sung in Spanish--this one sounds like THE ASSOCIATION's "Along Comes Mary"--in many ways! The bounce, the enthusiasm and force behind the singers' vocal, the chord progression, the vitality in the music as a whole. I just wish it wasn't so close to "Mary." But, at the 1:10 mark, almost as if the band had heard my musings, there is a delightful shift into a kind of lounge music instrumental passage--something Brian Auger might have done in his early days--and it's even graced by a pretty solid (and long!) wah-wah lead guitar solo in the third and fourth minutes before a return to the "Along Comes Mary" motif and group vocal delivery right up to the very end. Delightful. (9.125/10)

5. "La tarde en que Nietzsche pegó a Platón con el Mechero de Jim Morrison" (5:25) a song that projects some of the snark of countrymates ZA! as well as the sound and melodic genius of GREGG ALEXANDER (THE NEW RADICALS) (and young TODD RUNDGREN). Great stuff that is fairly simple in its foundation and construction but benefits tremendously by the infusion of a little crazed "youthful" imagination. And, with a title like this, how could they go wrong? Another top three song. (9.25/10)

6. "Te Hace Falta un Escarmiento. Partes 1-2" (6:45) despite the fairly-controlled heavy-ish rock music sound palette, there is definitely a little punk rock spirit blasting through on this one; Vientos Moderados Del Este are definitely kindred spirits to young Todd, young Gregg, and maybe even a bit of young Eric Burdon. Just how do these no-longer young men do it? Perhaps their new union as a band has injected each of the members with a new-found joi de vivre or esprit de jeunesse. Another top three song. (14/15)

7. "Vasilisa y la Bruja" (16:25) a finger-picked acoustic guitar chord opens this one, soon joined by a blues-rock ensemble of instruments and choral-delivered vocals, establishing a kind of slightly-heavier PINK FLOYD pastiche for the first couple minutes. I'm not sure where Part 1 ends as the same two-chord motif continues well into the tenth minute with the first six minutes being centered behind the choral vocals, followed by four minutes support to Pablo Mateo's long and passionate wah-wah guitar solo. At the 10-minute mark there is a slight pause as drummer César Espí introduces the Flintstones-like musíca Cubano tom-tom pattern that dominates the next two minutes. It is a near- droning tom-tom pattern that just as suddenly disappears at the 12-minute mark when there is an immediate shift into a swinging old jazz guitar and piano two-step, which then just as unexpectedly morphs at 13:12 into something anthemic when the boys start blasting out their vocal delivery of "sigues en pie" over a kind of Allman Brothers-ish four-chord vamp over which the choir boys continue belt out their instructions (or plea--I really wish my Spanish were better because I find myself wanting to know what it is their so insistent upon). This is what, then, takes us out--to the end of the song (and album)--with the choir vocals continuing while Pablo injects raw and raunchy guitar riffs beneath and in-between the vocal lines. Musically this is not very sophisticated but the guitar play and totally unexpected and sudden style changes earn points for creative inventiveness. Repeated listens render me more attentive to Pablo Mateo's excellent guitar play but more inured to the rather simplistic music--except for the freaky psychedelia of the eleventh and twelfth minutes: I LOVE that section. I think, overall, this is excellent but not quite worthy of superlatives. Were I attuned to the Spanish lyrics perhaps I could/would value it more. As it is, it feels like a song on a par with some of PINK FLOYD's classic songs that have now become little more than pleasantly numbing background music. (27/30)

Total Time: 53:06

How did this album hide from our attention for six months? (That's the time it took since the album was released [July 25] for it to appear in the ProgArchives top ten.) As other reviewers have said, it is such a delight to stumble upon artists like these who enter the fray with such a fresh and enthusiastic angle on music: here a blend of the 1960s Proto-Prog with a modern swag that comes with youth or a new relationship. But these guys are older: retreads from other bands that have been active since the Naughties. How the heck did they manage to harness and convey such a youthful spirit?

91.58 on the Fishscales = A-/five stars; a minor masterpiece of eclectic progressive rock music that offers a refreshing balm to my despondence over the stagnating state of progressive rock music.

BrufordFreak | 5/5 |

MEMBERS LOGIN ZONE

As a registered member (register here if not), you can post rating/reviews (& edit later), comments reviews and submit new albums.

You are not logged, please complete authentication before continuing (use forum credentials).

Forum user
Forum password

Share this VIENTOS MODERADOS DEL ESTE review

Social review comments () BETA







Review related links

Copyright Prog Archives, All rights reserved. | Legal Notice | Privacy Policy | Advertise | RSS + syndications

Other sites in the MAC network: JazzMusicArchives.com — jazz music reviews and archives | MetalMusicArchives.com — metal music reviews and archives

Donate monthly and keep PA fast-loading and ad-free forever.