REVIURE

I've been aware of Atila for many years so they're not exactly a new discovery for me. Like Gotic and Fusioon, Atila was also from the Catalonia region of Spain. Reviure, released in 1978 on the EMI/Odeon label, became their final album. While keyboardist Benet Nogue is credited to Mellotron, I don't hear a single note it, what you hear is a string synth. That out of the way, this is by far their finest album. They take on a more energetic fusion-oriented approach, with a spacier feel. While a few may be turned off by the flashy nature of the album, particularly the title track and "Atila", I really felt they gave it all they could with incredible playing and intensity. I really love the guitar and synth interplay on the title track. Drummer Juan Punyet plays like there's no tomorrow. The vocals don't appear to be in Spanish so it must in the local Catalan language. "Somni" really blows me away with Benet Nogue's rather creative use of synthesizers with a nice simply acoustic guitar rhythm. Usually I don't feel 1978 being a particularly good year for prog, but not with this album or the prog rock scene in Spain in general. Also I find it strange the band's final album should be their best one, but this is that album! Truly one of the finest albums to come out of Spain and a total must have!