BEGINNING OF THE END

A real top of the Spanish/Catalan prog scene,Atila were formed in 1973 as a trio by guitarist Eduardo Alvarez Niebla,keyboardist Paco Ortega and drummer Juan Panet,hailing from Girona.They were mostly famous for the two full-length lbums they released,but before them it was the live recording ''The beginning of the end (El principie del fin)'',which functioned as a demo presentation of the band.

This was just one track of 30 minutes length,but do not expect a structured superb epic to be heard.''''The beginning of the end'' is more of a live jamming of the band,which additionally sounds a lot more than an early-70's than a mid-70's archive.This lengthy composition can be described as organ-driven Heavy Psychedelic/Prog Rock with a few Classical adapted themes connected with plenty of guitar/organ solos and grooves,cut around its middle by a 3 min. drum solo.The abscence of the bass does not help,despite the generally rich sound.Surprisingly the track flaws easier than expected,as the band changes from smooth psychedelic to heavy organ-driven forms in constant moments.

The album ends up to be a cool archival release of this short-lived Spanish legend with some high but also a lot of low points,yet nowhere near their full-length releases,both in terms of music and production.Recommended mainly to fans of organ-based Proto Prog...2.5 stars.

1 star for Atila's debut, not so much for being terribly bad but because it's only for collectors and completionists, the reason being that you have a better version of the same music in their next album Intencion, so you should not spend your money in this one. Their next 2 albums are worth discovering though.

The original vinyl of this album is said to be the most sought for in the collectors market of spanish prog, reportedly having reached prices over 1000 euro (I believe only 1000 copies were released)..

Most 70's catalan prog bands were from Barcelona and unintentionally they formed the movement called 'rock laieta' (Laiteania was the roman name for the region around current Barcelona), and they frequently interacted with each other using as a platform the concert venue Zeleste and its associated recording label Edigsa..

Atila on the other hand were from the city of Girona, and while it's only 100 kms away from Barcelona this was enough to put them in another basket. They did not consider themselves as belonging to rock laieta but rather they just did their own stuff, and indeed their music is quite different from the other catalan bands, no fusion and no local folk, and more space / psych mixed with a fuzz hard rock guitar influenced by Hendrix, Cream and Tony Iommi, much more rocking than most other catalan bands. Indeed they only played once at Zeleste in 1976 (for 2 consecutive sold-out evenings). In any case they evolved quickly from proto-prog style to nearly symphonic in just 3 albums..

In 1975 they released this debut album which was recorded live in studio and can be considered more as a demo than anything else. It consists of a single track of 30 min which blends a few JS Bach chops with long instrumental jams with keys, guitar and drums, including a drum solo. As most 70's spanish prog it sounds much older than it is, this is more like proto-prog in the style of Iron Butterfly or Rare Earth, with touches of keyboard oriented prog such as The Nice and Egg but less masterful. One section reminds of Deep Purple's Child In Time..

Not bad but far from very good. The CD edition was apparently ripped from a vinyl and not from the original master tapes and the sound quality is rather poor, and the fact that they did not have a bassist does not help, although in some sections I could swear that I hear a bass besides the keys, guitar and drums, not sure how they did it..

A condensed to 15 min but much better version of this track is included in the follower "Intencion" with the title translated into spanish El Principio Del Fin, it keeps the most musical sections and drops the more unnecessary improvisation jams, so you should not spend your money with this album unless you are a completionist, huge Atila fan or fond of rarities..

As a curious note, in the album sleeve the track is divided in 18 imaginary parts and credited to imaginary authors. Apparently this was forced by the producer because in this way he grabbed part of the authors rights. Atila is worth discovering, especially their great 3rd album Reviure, but this debut is dispensable.