REMINISCENCIAS

Although ICONOCLASTA might not be the best prog rock band out there, I have to admit they came at a time when prog rock was at its low point, and provided some good music during a time when such groups like MARILLION ruled the prog world, and the big name acts like YES and GENESIS went commercial. Their music really did provide an alternative to those who might have not been too keen on the neo-prog scene, like MaARILLION, as their music hailed to the classic '70s prog sound. Even '70s keyboards like string synths are used here. This was their second album, from 1985 and is often regarded as the companion to their debut, released two years earlier. The lineup is still the same, with duo guitars of Ricardo Moreno and Ricardo Ortegon, with Ricardo Moreno's sister, Rosa Moreno on keyboards, Nohemi D'Rubin on bass, and Victor Baldovinos on drums. Produced much the same way and sounding more '70s than '80s, although some mid '80s digital synths started surfacing here, it's still used in a non- intrusive manner, and surprisingly '70s string synths are used here. The cover to the album is rather sinister looking, with these deformed figures, and the back cover looking like Mexico City in the aftermath of a nuclear war. Being from 1985 and still during the cold war, not to mention the country to the north of them (USA) was under the Reagan administration, this album showed the band's concern about nuclear weapons and the threat of nuclear war. But the album is largely instrumental, so you won't be hearing them sing (in Spanish) about nuclear war, just sticking to the prog rock they do best.

The opening cut, "La Gestación de Nuestro Mundo" is a rather sinister sounding piece, full of scary sound effects and sinister sounding piano. The next piece, "El Hombre Sobre la Tierra" is really lighthearted and a big shocker after the dark tone of the opening cut, this one has flute (not sure who is playing it), with the fuzz tone of Ricardo Ortegon's guitar" onmouseover="window.status='guitar'; return true;" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;">guitar. "La Era de los Metabolismes Tecnológicos" is a more aggressive number, dominated by guitar and synthesizers. The album closes with the side-length "Reminiscencias de un Mundo sin Futuro", which goes through several movements, with choir on some passages, and the only place you'll find vocals. A nice album, and definately a lot better than what their better known prog contemporaries were doing at the time (like "90125" or the self-entitled 1983 GENESIS album).

My rating: 3 stars and half

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