ESTRUCTURA

Venezuela during the 70's and 80's produced several interesting prog acts, forming a very reduced but solid scene. Although the bands were very diverse in sound, the predominant form of progressive rock was symphonic, represented by bands such as Tempano, Vytas Brenner, Ficcion and Parthenon. Estructura is a product of its time, being heavily influenced by such artists as Yes, Genesis and Queen. One thing that characterized most bands of the Venezuelan symphonic prog scene is the addition of Latin-American elements to their british prog oriented sound (the best example of this is Vytas Brenner) and Estructura is no exception.

Estructura's second and last effort is an attempt of emulating Rick Wakeman's Journey to the Center of the Earth both musically and stylistically. As a result, we have a very pleasant and often bombastic symphonic keyboard led piece with a narrator (telling a weird story about a fantastic journey, really similar in style to Jules Verne's work). The vocals, although in spanish, are astoundingly similar to the ones on Wakeman's album and almost the same keyboard set (with the exact same moog sounds on some sections) is used. At the end what we have here is a tribute to Rick Wakeman with some sections more reminiscent to other symphonic prog keyboardists such as Patrick Moraz and Keith Emerson and a latin touch every now and then.

The album as a whole is very coherent and cohesive, although it is distributed in several short tracks it is intended as a whole. The lyrics and concept aren't well developed but you can notice that all the musicians involved are very talented (but not really original), because lets face it: if you want to imitate to perfection some of the most talented musicians in prog you have to be very very good. Besides the keyboards, something that is worth mentioning is the guitar work sometimes similar to Steve Howe's (specially on Sueños) and sometimes more heavily oriented.

Among the most original pieces we can find the opening tracks (En Su Busca and En El Tiempo), Su Presencia, El Regreso and Mensaje a la Humanidad. Which are nice and well written pieces that show the capabilities of the band as a creative force.

Throughout the album, excellent musicianship and some hints of originality are shown. This is not a bad album but it isn't excellent.... a more original third album by this talented group of musicians might have reached a 4 (or maybe 5) star status... but I guess we'll never now....

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