FIVE SUNS

Guapo is an interesting find. They sit at the crossroads between Zeuhl and RIO, although I somewhat believe Zeuhl is a subset of RIO. The Zeuhl type of sound is expressed in the deep fabric of the compositions and the repetitveness of the themes. The RIO specs give FIVE SUNS a harder, more obtuse edge.

I can't shake off the notion that this music is pretty close to Magma, although not close enough to be considered a clone. The ''Five Suns'' epic is the main focus here, and rightfully so as it has the most memorable of the themes. The first part is the best as towards the end, it creates noises that make you think your headphones/speaker system is crapping out on you. The drumming takes the cake here although the haunting keyboards and throbbing bass will keep you on notice.

For some reason, Guapo decided to record a couple of extra tracks post the epic. ''Mictlan'' and ''Topan'' are both decently played RIO pieces, but neither really make much of an impact with the title epic thing coming before. There's also a minute of complete silence for no reason. FIVE SUNS is worth the investigation for the big epic as well as a look at possibly a Zeuhl-metal genre thingy.