REMINISCENCIAS

Two years after their great self-titled debut Mexican veterans Iconoclasta offered their sophomore effort ''Reminiscencias''.And nothing seems to have changed actually.The line-up remained the same, more or less an affair of the Moreno family tree, while the album was released on their own Discos Rosenbach label.

This time the band chose to deliver an even more symphonic style compared to their debut, which is actually a good thing considering the great talent within the band, but the new effort lacks the great energy of their debut with the short opening ''La Genestacion de Nuestro Mundo'' sounding more like a piano-based introduction than a complete arrangement.''El Hombre Sobre la Tierra'' is a smooth Symphonic Rock piece, carefully structured with a very dreamy atmosphere, following once more a GENESIS/STEVE HACKETT influence.Elegant flutes, background symphonic synths and HACKETT-ish guitar hooks all the way.''La Era de los Metabolismos Tecnologicos'' is propably the most dynamic track of all.Nice Symphonic/Fusion with plenty of keyboard solos, deep bass lines and decent guitar work, but overall rather chaotic and slightly abstract.The 17-min. ''Reminiscencias de un Mundo sin Futuro'' is the virgin attempt by the band to create a long prog epic.The result is partly succesful.This composition contains all of the Iconoclasta trademarks.Dreamy symphonic keyboards, HACKETT-ish guitar workouts, a very strong rhythm section, while you should add the acoustic break and the following female chant to complete the whole atmosphere.But sometimes these pieces do not sound that tightly connected, while the epic lacks a trully killer melody to rely upon.

Only the second track recalls the fantastic inspiration of Iconoclasta's debut.The rest of the album is also good, but not at the same level of their first release,with a few black holes here and there.Recommended overall, especially if taking into consideration the dark age of its release.