CRUZ D MALTA

Cruz D Malta are an instrumental prog metal band hailing from Mexico. I must admit I rarely listen to instrumental metal as I need the vocals to make some sense of it all and keep the interest. However I was very impressed with the overall sound of Cruz D Malta. The musicianship is excellent and the tensions and release of heavy and light textures in the music, darkness and light, is quite captivating. Each track offers some excellent metal riffs and the main drawcard are Arturo Ramírez's lead guitar solos with expert hammer ons and speed picking, and Edgar Butanda's complex keyboard runs. The rhythm machine of Roberto Ramírez on drums and Pável Vanegas on bass is exemplary keeping the band tight. Here's a track by track listing the way I hear it.

'Antagonía' clocks almost 12 minutes and starts with an ambient atmosphere and then a crunching riff dominates. A keyboard run reminding me of Dream Theater style and then a beautiful acoustic flourish. As the beat locks in an incredible lead break by Arturo with fret melting finger work and wah-wah pedal captured my attention. The riff at 8 minutes 45 is very much like the polyphonic work of John Petrucci. Great start to the album or certain.

'Hierro y Sangre' is a shorter piece though still running into 8 minutes 40 in length. The riff is similar to Iron Maiden's "Two Minutes To Midnight" at first but Bruce Dickenson refuses to sing! I still wish there were vocals but this is great music to kick back to. Edgar's keyboards on this is awesome with spacey runs and phrases. The lead break is killer, high fret work and hyper fast sweeping on the arpeggios. Love the squeals at the end of each phrase on the next section. Yeah, this is a great way to spend an evening, listening to metal. Love the wah-wah guitar and there are some great percussive metrical figures on this one by Roberto. There are so many time sig changes that is absolutely compelling headphone listening. The drums pound with blast beats and there are so many mood shifts on this it really never becomes difficult to listen to; it is always exhilarating.

'Rebelión de los Santos' begins with double kick speed drumming and an angular riff with odd time sig locks in. The time sig is 3/5 at one point and then a very complex riff begins. The distortion is very low tuned and speeds up after a few very measured crunches. Just in time to break the darkness, Edgar's keyboard solo begins, a very fast run with a nice sound. There is a metal riff accented by screams at the end, then a rather pleasant keyboard pad string layered beneath a frenetic guitar chord structure. More blast beats with double kick follow and speed metal thrashing broken occasionally by 3 chords. A lead break takes over and Dragonforce style speed riffing until it breaks into a slow cadence of piano and fuzz guitar. The dexterity of the musicians is astonishing, very fast, tight and professional. Here is the highlight of the album so listen at your nearest opportunity.

'Renacer' runs for just over 11 minutes beginning with gorgeous acoustics and ambient keyboards. This pleasant music is excellent as a nice transition away from the aggression and distortion of metal. It is an oddity because it does not even sound like a quiet metal song, it rather almost sounds symphonic and like something you might hear on a Mike Oldfield album or other Crossover prog. The bassline is inventive by Pável, always maintaining a strong rhythm. This is quite beautiful in places, especially the dreamy string pads and lead breaks, but I was looking forward to the next track and some more ear splitting metal. Maybe this is one for the lovers to cuddle up to in a live audience.

'Instinto Animal' is the longest track stretching to over 16 minutes and I was preparing, after all the relaxing music of the previous track, to be pummelled to the wall with massive blasts of metal and virtuoso lead soling. This mini epic begins with clean guitar like the intro to a Metallica song that is about to burst into fiery power riffing. The blast of metal comes suddenly and delivers what my ears needed at this point. The riff is off kilter, choppy and then locks into a moderate beat. The drums are terrific, powering out time sig changes and the band somehow keep up. The clean guitar returns, and then the melody is distorted with metal delivery. Suddenly the sig shifts into a chugging metal riff and an awesome lead break hammers over. Arturo is in his element here and it ascends and descends up and down the scale as fast as Dave Mustaine's 'Hangar 18' soloing. The riff that follows has a low ominous tone and builds steadily to a break on keyboards, and then a beautiful acoustic and keyboard string passage. At 7 minutes an exquisite lead solo sparkles like fresh wine, then it gets faster and more urgent with speed hammering and fast picking with high string bends. Another riff is launched and it is one of the best on the album, very inventive and infectious. Edgar has a chance to shine with staccato keyboard pounding. At 9:50 a lead break using fast scales begins and some fret melting fingering with Steve Vai speed sweeps. The chunky riff that follows moves off the metronome rhythm quite sporadically and it is augmented by a blast of unusual scales. At 12:20 the riff chops and changes all over the place and it is quite a jarring segment of tight musicianship. A bass solo follows and the guitars and keys follow along. At the end of the song it slows as if out of breath, but there is time for a smoking lead break at 14:40, and finally at 15:20 a frenzied rhythm ends it. At the end of this track one word can only sum this up: masterpiece!

'Transición' is another long song at 14 minutes, and it begins with some dark chord changes with an ominous atmosphere. It switches to a more pleasant sound with very nice keyboard symphonic strings. Every band member lights up on these tracks whether it be a fast metal tirade or a beautiful sweeping majestic piece as this one is. The serenity continues with gorgeous keyboard lines and clean guitar melodies. Some vocals would have been appropriate on this track I felt, perhaps a Kim Serviour, or Heather Findlay vocal, just to augment the beauty and mystery of the music. It gets moody at 5 ½ minutes in, but it is short lasting as the pleasant melodies return. The violin sounds on keys are mesmirising. The pace builds to a faster tempo and more aggressive metal, and there is a terrific lead break at 10 ½ minutes. It continues to build in energy and is then backed up by dynamic riffing and finally a Mexican guitar sound at 11 minutes. Other instruments join in and highlight the music creating a wall of sound. Time sig shifts dramatically and there is a rather esoteric sound, to end yet another highlight of the album.

'Un Mundo De Sueños' is a nice short track at 5 minutes length to end this complex arrangement of music. The final track begins with a beautiful melody, acoustic, orchestral mellotron sounds, and a steady beat. The lead break is similar to the style of Andy Latimer, emotional and restrained. It is a tour de force of lead work. I am overwhelmed at the virtuoso musicianship and inventiveness of the band. This is the best of the slower songs on the album. It still retains an edge with accomplished soloing and an ambient layer of keyboards.

At the end of the album I feel refreshed and happy that I have been treated to some wonderful symphonic metal from a country that I hear little music from. Mexico have certainly got some talent here with Cruz D Malta and this is a band that the prog metal world will soon hear from. I hope they continue to create incredible music such as that on this debut. I am glad that I was introduced to this band and have had the pleasure of hearing some of the finest musicianship in the prog metal world.